“Most sin is born out of spiritual blindness—shown in a vast, ugly forgetfulness of God.” Pg. 66, Holy Available, Gary Thomas
“a vast, ugly forgetfulness of God.”
“a vast, ugly forgetfulness…”
Wow.
My spiritual blindness returns constantly, even though I’ve been healed from it. What’s worse…I sometimes often enjoy that blindness.
And I forget about God.
And it’s ugly…and vast.
How different my days would be if I remembered God in a vast, beautiful, GLORIOUS way?
I think it would be something like this…
David as a shepherd boy had this vast, beautiful, glorious remembrance of God!
1 Samuel 17 describes the Israelites’ encounter with the Philistines, particularly the giant Philistine, Goliath.
Consider verse 11: “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”
And verse 24: “When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid.”
Israel’s leadership, warriors, and frontline men had a grand display of spiritual blindness, forgetting God in His power to conquer a giant.
In contrast to Israel’s overwhelming forgetfulness of God, David enters the scene.
Verses 42-47 state,
“David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ The Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine also said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.’
45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin,
but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted.
46‘This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
47and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear;
for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.’”
I shivered as I read that passage, understanding the incredible knowledge David had of God in that moment; how powerful David’s words were and still are as they display the might and glory of the LORD. How clear David’s vision was of God!
How is your vision?
Are you operating out of spiritual blindness, with a vast, ugly forgetfulness of God?
Are you operating out of spiritually clear vision, with a vast, beautiful, glorious remembrance of God?