Fri.’s Devo - Eyes to See

Read: 1 Samuel 20:1-21:15; John 9:1-41; Psalm 113:1-114:8; Proverbs 15:15-17 The last time David was with Saul, Saul had tried to nail him to the wall with his sword. David had fled to Ramah to see Samuel. Now he went to look for Jonathan to find out why Saul was so bent on killing him. *** Jonathan couldn’t believe his father would want to kill David but promised David he would do some investigating. He would get back to him in three days. It was the time of the new moon festival and Jonathan would see Saul’s reaction when David didn’t show up. *** Saul was fine the first day, but when David wasn’t in his place at the table the second day, he asked Jonathan where he was. Jonathan told him David had a family issue and went home. Saul was irate. He accused Jonathan of giving his kingdom to David. He told Jonathan to go get David so he could kill him, then he threw his sword and almost killed Jonathan. Jonathan knew he was serious. *** Jonathan met with David and told him what his father had said. They both cried and hugged one another, knowing they might not see each other again. They swore allegiance to each other and their families. *** David went to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. He asked him for bread and weapons. He was given the old shewbread and Goliath’s sword. He told Ahimelech that he was on a secret mission for the king. *** Saul’s chief herdsman, Doeg, was there and saw David take the sword of Goliath. *** David left there and went to Gath, but the Philistine officers knew of David’s reputation in killing Philistines. David was afraid of what King Achish might do to him so he played like he was insane. King Achish had him thrown out, so David escaped. *** In John, Jesus and his disciples came upon a man who had been blind since birth. His disciples asked him if the man was blind because of his own sins or the sins of his parents. Jesus answered, neither. It was so that the power of God could be seen in him. *** Jesus spit on the ground making mud with his saliva. He then spread the mud over the blind man’d eyes. He told him to go and wash it off in the pool of Siloam. The man did and came back seeing. *** He testified to everyone what Jesus had done. *** His friends took him to the Pharisees because it had been done on the Sabbath. They argued if he could be from God. Would God work on the Sabbath? Who else could do such miracles? *** They finally asked the man who had been healed what he thought about the man who healed him. He told them the man must be a prophet. *** The skeptical Pharisees called in the man’s parents and they confirmed that he was born blind. All they knew is that he could now see. They were afraid they would be cast out of the synagogue so they told him to ask their son. *** They called the man back and questioned him more. He told them that never before had anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. He had to be from God. The Pharisees cast him out of the synagogue. *** Jesus found him and asked if he believed in the Son of Man. The man asked who that was and Jesus said it was him. He told Jesus that he believed and he worshipped Jesus. *** Jesus said that he came to render judgment to give sight to the blind and to show those who thought they could see that they were blind. *** The Pharisees asked if he was talking about them. He told them if they were blind, they wouldn’t be guilty. But since they claimed they could see, they remained guilty. *** Lord, may we be humble and remember that we see only because God gave us eyes to see. May we always depend totally on You. Thank you for opening out eyes to see that You are the risen Christ!