Stumbling Block or Stepping Stone
By Kurt Bomar
Avery County
Lev. 19:14 ” ‘Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.”
Besides the obvious instruction to not be cruel to those who have physical impairments, I think there is a picture that the Lord is trying to paint for us in these matters.
Physical impairments can be a picture of a spiritual impairment that causes the world to not see or not want to hear about Jesus.
Let’s consider how Jesus himself dealt with a deaf person:
Mark 7:32 “There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. 33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak plainly.”
Notice the things that Jesus does. First, He removes the man from the crowd and gives him individual attention. This alone would mean a lot to a man who had been ignored his whole life. Next, He touches the man’s ears and tongue. If He had merely spoken healing to the man, the man would never heard it and would have missed the connection Jesus was making with him. Thus, Jesus was relating to the man where he was. By touching him before the healing the man got to be part of the process and to know that something profound was about to happen.
And it did. When Jesus then spoke, the man’s ears were opened. Likewise, when you and I speak the Word of God, spiritually deaf ears are opened as well.
Next, our verse tells us not to trip the blind. One day in Bethsaida Jesus similarly healed a blind man. This time, though, after touching the man’s eyes He asked him if he could see. The response was “I see men as trees walking.” Jesus then touched him a second time and his total sight was restored. (Mark 8:22-25)
The lesson here for us to learn is that when we minister to the spiritually blind, it may not work the first time. But we are not to give up. We may help someone go from total darkness to seeing shadows of the truth even if they don’t fully comprehend God’s grace at once. As we continue to show the love of God, we may have the pleasure of watching the scales drop off their eyes. Regardless, the point is to keep on touching the spiritually blind and deaf. We can then sit back and watch God do His part.
Selah, (think about it)
Asst. Pastor Kurt Bomar, Walnut Grove Church
Come join us on Sundays at 11:00
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Kurt Bomar is the Assistant Pastor of Walnut Grove Church located in Avery County. You are welcome to join them on Sundays at 11:00 AM for worship! (When we are allowed to meet in the building again). You can read more Christian news from Kurt Bomar HERE.
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