I Can See Clearly Now

Hello Hump Day readers. This last week has been crazy weather, 40MPH winds, then light snow, then 82 degrees and the small bugs came in swarms and you couldn’t see through your glasses or your windows and your car windows!  Everyone was washing off and in about 15 minutes everything was not clear again. It made me think of that oldie, “I Can See Clearly Now The Rain Is Gone” which was written by Johnny Nash.

Nash’s song was mostly about his life and the topsy-curvy things he encountered. It’s now wonder who wrote and sung that song. Here’s a few more stanzas of the song:“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way.” “Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind…I think I can make it now, the pain is gone. All of the bad feelings have disappeared. “Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin’ for. It’s Gonna be a bright bright-bright-bright sun-shiny day.”

Nash was a man of faith in case you didn’t know, and when I hear that song, it reminds me that some things cloud my vision, yet God gives me a rainbow just as he did to Nash and all of his children!

Remember the story from Mark 8:22-26 about a man who couldn’t see? In the Message Bible it really lays out how Jesus clears our eyes, ears, minds and hearts…“They arrived at Bethsaida. Some people brought a sightless man and begged Jesus to give him a healing touch. Taking him by the hand, he led him out of the village. He put spit in the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up. “I see men. They look like walking trees.” So Jesus laid hands on his eyes again. The man looked hard and realized that he had recovered perfect sight, saw everything in bright, twenty-twenty focus.”

This story intrigues me because Jesus’ first healing touch wasn’t enough for the man, so Jesus laid hands on him again and the man had perfect sight. Wow—only Jesus could have done such a miracle. But I still have this question with what Jesus did: “Why did he have to do this twice?” It’s kind of like this last week with constant cleaning glasses, windows, etc. We encountered the same thing the man did, everything was happening in stages—cleaned it up, 15 minutes later it was messed up, back-and-forth, back-and-forth! It’s exactly like our lives as well.

Think about the man Jesus healed that day; he needed more than one healing and Jesus knew it and gave it to him. Where do you need more healing? We can always stand to see a bit more clearly but it often doesn’t stay long. Like the man in this Scripture, we, too, will often go through stages for healing, looking for hope, grabbing on to grace, and so much more. Sometimes that’s just how Jesus works this out for us.

Here’s a question: “How important is it for us to look up and look to Jesus, the One who heals us? Our daily lives can be a rat-race, and that is why we need to stop, look up to Jesus and say “O Lord, I can’t see clearly anymore, please help me.” It’s when we take our eyes off of Jesus, all we can see is the wound that’s hurting or the people who inflicted it. Then we start seeping and drifting. But, when we look up and look to Jesus, keeping our eyes on him, we begin to heal, and we can say “I can see clearly now, the rain is gone, it’s gonna be a bright bright-bright-bright sun-shiny day!” AMEN.