BLINDNESS . . .
“The LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.” Psalm 146:8
Blindness is a very difficult challenge to deal with. For those who have sight, it is nearly impossible to imagine. Fanny Crosby was a remarkable woman. Born in 1820, Fanny’s blindness began as a young child. Her father died when she was very young, so she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Fanny attended a school for the blind in New York and eventually became a teacher there. In her thirties, she married a blind musician. Their only child died in infancy.
While in her forties, Fanny set out to write lyrics for hymns. She wrote so many hymns that she needed to use 72 fake names. She was said to dictate as many as a dozen new songs from memory at a time, one after another.
Fanny died at the age of 95, having written over 10,000 hymns! She once said, “If I had been given a choice at birth, I would have asked to be blind, so when I get to heaven, the first face I see will be the one who died for me.”
The Bible often speaks of blindness. We know the men of Sodom were blinded by the angel. Elisha witnessed an entire army struck with blindness. Samson was blinded by his enemies. Paul was blind for three days after his conversion. And we know Jesus healed many who were blind.
There are two types of blindness. We spoke of physical blindness. But there is one far worse: spiritual blindness. Those who are spiritually blind cannot see the love of God, the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, or the hope we have of heaven. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4). We must continually share the light of Christ with the spiritually blind.
From: Precious Words of the Bible by Reynold R. Kremer