Ears to hear and eyes to see--both are gifts from God. Proverbs 20:12

Shadows

Our housecat sometimes makes the mistake of pouncing on the shadow of a hummingbird or butterfly that's been projected onto the carpet by morning sunlight through the east window. These shadows perform the same acrobatic flight patterns as the real thing, but of course, they lack substance. We chuckle at this case of mistaken identity.

King Ahaz of Judah made a similar mistake, but his mistake was much more grave and had greater consequences. Ahaz mistook the false gods of the pagan nations around him for the real thing. Even during his worst time of trouble, when beset by enemies all around, Ahaz continued to chase the shadows of false gods instead of seeking the One true God.

[Ahaz] offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus who had defeated him, for he said, "Since these gods helped the kings of Aram, they will help me, too, if I sacrifice to them." But instead, they led to his ruin and the ruin of all Judah. (II Chronicles 28: 22-23)

Personal ruin and the ruin of Judah was the result.

After Ahaz's ignominious death, Hezekiah, his son, became king and things began to turn around quickly in Judah. King Hezekiah recognized the One true God as God and charged the priests and Levites with cleansing the Temple of the Lord to ready it for worship.

In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them (II Chronicles 29: 3).

As the burnt offering was presented, songs of praise to the Lord were begun, accompanied by the trumpets and other instruments of David, the former king of Israel. The entire assembly worshiped the Lord as the singers sang and the trumpets blew, until all the burnt offerings were finished. Then the king and everyone with him bowed down in worship (II Chronicles 29: 27b-29)

So the Temple of the Lord was restored to service. And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people, for everything had been accomplished so quickly (II Chronicles 29: 35b-36).

Restoration and peace for Hezekiah and Judah was the result.

In another take on shadows, one of our grandsons has had very poor vision in his left eye since birth, seeing, at best, only shadowy, blurred shapes if he covers his good eye. As a result of having such limited eyesight in one eye, he's been lacking peripheral vision and depth perception.

He recently had eye surgery to remove scar tissue and weld his torn retina, and his surgeon is hopeful that his vision, peripheral vision, and depth perception will be greatly improved, not only in that eye, but overall as he begins to use both eyes together. In fact, just one day post-operatively he was able to see the color blue and the nurse's two fingers, so early indicators are strong that the operation was successful.

If it's as successful as we're all praying, our grandson will be able to see things he's only seen shadows of before with that eye: color, 3-D shapes, all those lovely, mysterious things we usually only catch glimpses of at the corners of our eyes like hummingbirds and butterflies. This is our prayer, O Lord!

The Trappist monk and poet, Thomas Merton, wrote,

The earliest [church] fathers knew that all things, as such, are symbolic by their very being and nature, and all talk of something beyond themselves. Their meaning is not something we impose upon them, but a mystery which we can discover in them, if we have the eyes to look with.

Lord, thank you for giving us the eyes to see the physical beauties of nature around us. Give us also the eyes to see the greater mysteries you've embedded in them.

Daye Phillippo

August 2019