CHAPTER 13: THE DAY HE OPENED MY EYES 2025
In Numbers, God sent a temporary plague of leprosy on Moses’ sister, Miriam, and that got her attention (Numbers 12:10). In Samuel’s day, He sent thunder and rain at harvest to startle the people into humble submission (1 Samuel 12:18). The Lord got David’s attention with a convicting story from the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-4). In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah suddenly saw the Lord sitting on His throne, high and lifted up. Isaiah never got over the moment (Isaiah 6:1).
In Isaiah 38:1, King Hezekiah’s attention suddenly refocused on the Lord at the onset of a terminal diagnosis. The Lord got Jonah’s attention with a storm, Nebuchadnezzar’s attention with the fourth man in the furnace, Peter’s attention with a rooster, and Paul’s attention with a bright light on the Damascus Road.
The jailer of Philippi was awakened at midnight by an earthquake (Acts 16:25), and the apostle John was startled by a series of revelations on the island of Patmos (Revelation 1:9-10). God, when He wants to, will get your attention. Here’s my story.
I had fallen ill many years ago. I was very sick and was in such a state that I couldn’t get up and had been laying there now for what was the beginning of another day. How many days in all, I don’t know. It was a serious situation, I absolutely could not get up. In this weakened state I began to drift both mentally and physically. Every stupid thing I’d ever done went through my mind. I had abused all the rules, lived hard and fast for an extended period of time. A manic life, incredible opportunities, potential in every step, all of it heading for fame and fortune baby, I never slept, didn’t take care of myself and it finally got me. Prior to this moment, I’d thought myself to be invincible. That was incorrect.
Proverbs 14:12-13 There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.
Psalm 107:17-18 Some became fools through their rebellious ways
and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.
I, was experiencing my own end. It was here, I was here. It was hard to breathe. I could hear my heart. I knew that living was not an option anymore. I was alone, couldn’t move, couldn’t call for help. I prayed, I don’t know if I usually prayed or had prayed occasionally. It’s not that I didn’t believe in God, I just didn’t believe correctly and because of that I was not correct in any area of my life. I don’t know exactly what I believed, I don’t know how much scripture I’d picked up a long the way, if any. What I did know is I prayed in that moment, absolute and desperate.
“God, (I prayed), I don’t know what to do with what you’ve given me. I’ve never known what to do with it. I wanted to know, I wanted to use it, all of it, I tried but it never worked right, always coming up short. If you will show me what to do, put it in front of me what to do, so that I know the way, so I can see it clearly. I’ll do what you put in front of me. I give my promise, from this moment on.”
I got up. Get it? In that exact moment, I got up, it, whatever it was, was gone and I was fine, perfectly fine.
Psalm 107:1 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
After that, I kept my word, and that was many years ago. I’m afraid not to. However, keeping my word did not eliminate trial, tribulation, mistakes, sin, fear and harsh amounts of learning. But, it was better, I had a compass.
Patiently, he works with me, even now, right now. The act of obedience is to let go and let God and know that He is what is right, every time, all the time and to do any of it, is not possible without Him.
John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The hard part for me was the slow and arduous remembering of the life I wasted and what could’ve been. And then there is scripture that most definitely helps in these awkward moments.
Deuteronomy 30:3 God, your God, will restore everything you lost; he’ll have compassion on you; he’ll come back and pick up the pieces from all the places where you were scattered.
I call that “Illusive Gain.” I can’t exactly measure the gain at the instant it happens, but it is definitely measurable as I look back since the Promise Prayer. Like a dividend my wasteful choices, those memories, help deter me away from similar choices. Well, most of the time, anyway. “I do open my eyes everyday, including today.” Big plus, I get another chance to be better. What I wanted prior to the Promise Prayer was ridiculous. Fame and glory was my god.” Listen to me now, fame and glory, It is unobtainable, even if you have it, you’ve already lost it. A slave servant to vanity.
Ecclesiastes 4:4 And I saw that all toil and all achievement spring from one person’s envy of another. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
You know, I have a story about the devil giving a free ticket ride that isn’t so free and will cost you your life if you buy. It is in the form of a joke…, sort of.
“An airplane was flying along when one of the engines just up and quit, well it had four engines, people were afraid but there were more engines, until two more went out, leaving only one engine left. Well suddenly the cockpit cabin door flew open and there was the pilot stepping through with a parachute tied onto his back and he said: “Don’t worry everybody, all will be fine, I’m going for help!””
The devil bails out and leaves me hangin on a ticket I bought and that ticket will cost me my life.
Revelation 2:11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ’
Second death? I didn’t know what that meant, it was a long time before I learned about the White Throne judgement, the second death, the day satan loses entirely and Jesus, the judge and jury, sends the devil and all those who do not believe into the eternal fire, no appeals court.
Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
John 3:7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Fame and glory, money, property and prestige, it’ll always be there, it’s just not as sparkly to me as it once was. God has taken its place. I have felt the pull of it over the years, to return to the adventure of chaos and a slippery slope. I hear his voice…
“I did not prepare you for this.”
Hopefully on those days, I listen and obey lest I find myself in a free-fall off the proverbial cliff.
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
All this that I share with you, could not be, had I not prayed the promise prayer to save me, to swear my allegiance to the one true God, a slave to Jesus is to be free indeed. It ain’t easy, I’m not easy, mistakes are always made by me, but God knows my heart, and try I must!
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,
No, is a complete sentence. Understand what is given in your talents — use them, only for the work of Heaven, always in the name and honor of Him to the glory. Don’t make the mistake of using them for anything else, like I did.
Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
There is a roadblock of chapter 13, an interruptor I might say. Deceit, foolishness, lack of knowledge, stubbornness, arrogance, haughty and stupid. You may remember it? I know I do. If I go back I’m lost. Better to be right here, right now with God, and although I fumble the ball all the time, I want to try and try again in the mercy of Jesus. I don’t want to fail my promise, so when I mess up, I say I’m sorry and try, try again. I’ve seen folks fail their promise and give in to the dark side completely, in the name of god knows what. Doesn’t work out.., dangerous curves ahead.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Just think, if I hadn’t prayed, if I wasn’t here, ….but I am here, and so are you, so now what? What happens? Pretty good news, be patient in the waiting and the doing.
Habakkuk 2:3 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
——-The book says the road is narrow. My grandma said the road to perdition is a freeway. Funny, the things we remember?
Matthew 7:13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matthew 12:33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
For many years I’ve thought about the day He opened my eyes. I can assure you, He does not lie. Even in my promise, I’ve stumbled, fallen and gotten back up in the strength and courage than can only be found in a God who is present always keeping His end of the bargain. He kept His end of the deal, and I have tried to keep my promise and even in my failures He allows me to continue in His grace .., to try again.
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Make no mistake, I made a deal with God and thank God it was God, truly. I caution all of us, this world offers many deals, be very careful where you sign your name and who you strike a deal with. In our ignorance and arrogance we do terrible things, stupid things, costly, damaging things. The best deal is God.
Chapter 13, The Day He Opened My Eyes. You see, my eyes were always open, there was just way more to see and without God, I was blind.
Isaiah 41:9-10
I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Amen.
