A Few Thoughts About Blindness

“Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know.” (Genesis 18:20-21)

 

I can only wonder what the outcry against us today is like before God in heaven, because our sin today is great and very grave.

 

“And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves groping for the door.” (Genesis 19:11)

 

This account of God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah I heard when I was young, and then read I’ve read these verses over the years since. including Those details about the men outside the door of Lot’s house being struck with blindness were familiar, yet only this morning has the significance of what was going on struck me.

 

I’ve had eye problems for several years, glaucoma and retina issues, and the prospect of losing sight in one or both of my eyes terrifies me.

 

Those men outside the door of Lot’s house were all struck with blindness, and yet when I read this now,  I’m astounded by what I hadn’t perceived before. Instead of being sent into a panic of fear over the instant loss of their eyesight, the men of Sodom persisted in their pursuit of their evil in spite one of the worst of debilitating afflictions.

 

Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” (John 9:39)

 

Are we so doomed by our own blindness, that we are unable and cannot perceive the evil that surrounds us in this present time in which we live?

 

“Do you suppose, O man, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgement of God?

 

Or do you presume upon the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience?

 

Do you not know that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 

 

But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed.” (Romans 2:4-5)

 

Paul’s words are indictments against me.

The Oddblock Station Agent