Nahash the Ammonite came up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to him, “Make a treaty with us, and we will serve you.”
Nahash the Ammonite replied, “I’ll make a treaty with you on this condition: that I gouge out everyone’s right eye and humiliate all Israel” 1 Samuel 11:1,2
Most of us, I would like to think, are born with something like full spiritual vision. It does not take long, though, for the world to begin its work of blinding us to the Real. Putting out the right eye leaves us with a flat, two-dimensional view of things. Life, according to the prince of this world, should have no depth and no meaning. The devil will lock us up inside our own heads and let us go mad as circular reason spirals in, ever tighter.
The enemy comes up threatening and intimidating. I think perhaps compromise is the best course. All I have to give up is one eye. Is it really that big of a deal? What good are two eyes when you are dead?
It is worth considering in this context that Jesus said, “If your right eye offends you, put it out. It’s better to enter the kingdom with one eye than to go to hell with both.” The difference is that Jesus is speaking metaphorically. Ray Charles was blind and couldn’t leave the girls alone. Jesus uses the concept as another way of saying, repent, turn away from the economy of the flesh and die to it.
But the enemy wants me impaired, confused and helpless. Nahash, at least, had the audacity to state his purpose: to “humiliate all Israel” – and, by extension, to humiliate the God of Israel. It’s one of the problems with proclaiming I am a son of God; it draws the whole Family into whatever mess I get myself into.
That’s also the good news. There is a “rest of the story”.
Saul had just become king over Israel and he had not gotten on the path to destruction as yet. The men of Jabesh-gilead sent word that they were in trouble. When the king heard it, he was plowing. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he hacked an ox into twelve pieces then sent a piece to each of the tribes. No RSVP invitation, it was show up or else. Then Saul sent back a message to Jabesh. “By the time the sun is hot tomorrow,” he said, “you will have help.”
So it was that the king went up, took out Nahash, and delivered Gilead from the Ammonites.
I have a choice every day. I can listen to the world’s deception and lose the better part of my ability to perceive the Real, or I can call upon my King and Elder Brother to stand with me. He will not fail me or forsake me. It doesn’t matter that I am somewhat of an outlier, that I am perhaps not all that I should be, He will show up when things get hot.
But what if I have compromised in the past? What if I am already blinded?
As Tolkien said, “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.” Reading in the Gospels one cannot help but think there were a great many blind in the days of the Lord’s earthwalk. When they encountered Jesus they did not remain blind.
If I call upon Him, my blinded eye will be opened, my sight will be restored, and my deliverance will be complete.
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3 comments:
'shroom, have you ever read, "'Til We Have Faces"?
Tolkein's correct idea of the King as healer puts it to mind.
I must recommend it to Rayn Man.
"Eat," said Akela, rising up from the meat Mowgli had brought him, and the Outlier flung himself on it. ~ R. Kipling
This is some mighty fine flinging, from an outlier who gnos his where his Om is.
Yes, I have read that and found it disturbing in a positive way. Thanks for the reminder -- I need to read it again, and I don't know if I have it in my Lewis collection.
The Quiet Pot speaks, and I take notes.
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