Not By Sight
When we experience true loss, it can feel like you've fallen into a dark pit. The life you had planned disappears as your vision fades to black. As you transition from initial shock to long term despair, an overwhelming sense of hopelessness sets in. I imagine it was this kind of misery young Matt Murdock must have felt when a chemical accident took his eyesight. Not only was Matt's world literally cast into darkness, but shortly thereafter, his father, best friend and only parent was shot and killed, leaving him stranded, alone in the dark. When we lose someone we love, our perception of the world and our purpose in it, is forever altered.
Two years ago today, my wife and I lost her younger brother and his newlywed wife to an impaired driver. No words will ever come close to adequately expressing the depth of heartache we have come to know. Dan and Kayla were, and continue to be, irreplacable burning fires for Christ, and not getting to see them everyday is, at times, like feeling around in the dark, our vision stripped away.
When the lights suddenly go out, we naturally call out to God for an answer. "How are we supposed to live like this?" But God expects this question. Why? Because He knows how you feel. Before Christ suffered the pain and anguish of the cross, He mourned alongside His friends and family when He learned of Lazarus' death. The Maker of heaven and earth Himself, suffers alongside us. And though we will never fully comprehend the complexity of God's will here on earth, I can tell you this. The immeasurable depth of longing we feel for those loved ones we are separated from is a reflection of just how badly Christ longs to embrace us. When we accept God's gift of Christ's sacrifice, we become eternally reunited with the One who made us, the essence of true love, and the anchor of our souls. And we gain not just ultimate victory over death, but an entirely supernatural perspective and purpose for our remaining time here on earth.
Matt may have lost his eyesight in his accident, but God turned his weakness into his greatest strength. With his other senses now heightened to supernatural levels, Matt fights for the weak as Daredevil, inspiring the broken, reminding us all that we walk by faith, and not by sight. And of course we don't have super senses like Matt, and there always seems to be another pit to fall in, but the eternal perspective and comfort Christ provides through tragedy means that no matter how far we fall, or how dark it gets, when you turn your head to the sky, the open arms of a Savior will be there to pull you through.
