712_Opening the eyes of the soul (Isaiah 29)
Isaiah 29:13-16 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
It’s very easy to miss something that is right in front of you. Once a group of people were watching a basketball game. They were asked to count the number of passes made by one team. Most of them concentrated so hard on counting that they completely missed a person in a gorilla suit walking through the middle of the scene. The gorilla was visible the entire time, yet many never saw it. Psychologists call this “inattentional blindness.” We often see only what we are prepared to see.
This is true in our lives in other ways. For instance, we may be religious. We may faithfully attend church, read our Bibles, pray, and participate in Christian activities. Yet we fail to understand what God is saying to us. Our eyes may be open physically while our souls remain blind to spiritual realities.
Isaiah 29 reveals both the cause and the cure of this illness. He begins with a solemn warning to Jerusalem, called Ariel: “Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!” (Isaiah 29:1, ESV). Jerusalem was the city of David, the place where God’s temple stood. It was the seat of God-ordained worship. It was the center of the three great pilgrim feasts which celebrated and renewed God’s unique and lasting covenant with his people.
As the capital of Israel, Jerusalem enjoyed great privileges. Yet privilege had led to complacency. The city still witnessed religious festivals and the daily sacrifices, but their hearts were unimpressed by the Lord, and disloyal to him.
Therefore, God announced the coming distress of Jerusalem. The city would be surrounded by her enemies and brought low. Those who rested in their own worldly security would discover that their confidence had betrayed them. Yet out of judgment, God’s mercy shines through. He promises that those who treated his people with cruelty would disappear like a dream – but his people would be restored.
Sometimes God allows difficulties into our lives to awaken us. We tend to fall into a pattern of trusting our plans, our abilities, our resources, and our wisdom. When a crisis comes, we suddenly realize how desperately we need God. What appears to be a setback can be used in God’s love to make us look to him again. Our humbling can lead to our restoration.
Beyond external distress, Isaiah moves on to the spiritual condition of the people: “They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink” (Isaiah 29:9, ESV). They were drunk on unbelief, and they could no longer perceive reality.
Isaiah explains, “For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes” (Isaiah 29:10, ESV). Those who did not seek or love the truth eventually deteriorated into undiscerning unperceptive people. The vision of God’s truth had become like a sealed book. Some could read but not understand the message. Others could not read it. Either way, God’s message was inaccessible to them.
Those who could read could not understand the vision. This is one side of spiritual blindness. It is far more serious than simply lacking information. Reading the Bible, worshiping God at church, learning scriptural teachings and doctrines, can still leave a person spiritually ruined. Though God’s truth is present, the unwilling heart finally became unable to receive it.
The Lord often emphasized this spiritual illness. For instance, after the Parable of the Sower, He said, “He who has ears, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9, ESV). His point was not about physical hearing but spiritual receptivity. The message falls on many ears, yet only some hearts truly receive it.
What causes this blindness? Isaiah gives a remarkably clear answer. The first cause is hypocrisy. God says, “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me” (Isaiah 29:13, ESV). Their worship looked sincere, but was without substance.
It is possible to use the language of faith without possessing the life of faith. We can sing hymns without worshipping. We can pray without truly seeking God. We can read Scripture without allowing Scripture to read us. God longs, not for outward performance alone, but loving worship from the heart and the soul, which springs forth in trust and obedience.
A second cause of blindness was honoring human tradition above God’s truth. Isaiah says that instead of fearing God, they lived by “a commandment taught by men” (Isaiah 29:13, ESV). Cultural rules and regulations had replaced God’s good and holy and perfect law.
Whenever traditions, preferences, or religious habits become more important than God’s living Word, faith fades. The Lord encountered the same problem among most religious leaders of His day. They knew the Scriptures thoroughly, yet could not recognize the words and acts of the Messiah standing before them.
The third cause was pride. Isaiah describes people who attempted to hide their plans from God and instead tried to manipulate him through their religious acts. Their aim was to ensure God fulfilled their plans, instead of the reverse. He asks, “Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?” (Isaiah 29:16, ESV).
Pride deprives us of spiritual sight. When we think we know enough, we stop listening. When we trust ourselves, we stop learning. Spiritual blindness makes us think our wisdom is greater than His.
Yet the tone of the chapter is not all gloomy. Isaiah begins to describe God’s promised restoration. “In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see” (Isaiah 29:18, ESV). Out of judgment, grace would open.
Throughout the Gospels, the Lord repeatedly opened blind eyes. Those miracles were more than acts of compassion; they signaled a deeper reality.
When the Lord healed the man born blind in John 9, He concluded by saying, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see” (John 9:39, ESV). Christ is the Light who came into the world, so that those who follow him should never walk in darkness. The veil of blindness would be removed from their hearts when they recognized in him the God who is the beginning and the end.
Isaiah also promises that “the meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD” (Isaiah 29:19, ESV). Pride made them blind to the joy found in the ways of the Lord, but humility opens the way back. The humble person knows his needs. He admits he does not have the answers. He comes to God with empty hands and an open heart.
God delights to give grace to such people.
The chapter concludes with the promise: “Those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding” (Isaiah 29:24, ESV). Understanding is a response of faith, of trust, to the only wise God who is Love. It is the result of God’s grace. He opens blind eyes. He softens hard hearts. He teaches those who are willing to learn.
The real question is not whether we have eyes, but whether we can see. Whether we have become sleepy, careless, non-vigilant, in some areas of our lives. Have we substituted religious habits for faith and obedience? Are we too proud to be taught by the Lord? Do we hear his word but not listen to it?
The good news of Isaiah 29 is that God continues to work with the blind, as long as there is hope of restoration. He humbles them that he may heal them. He disciplines them that they may have the fruit of peace and righteousness.
David prayed: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18, ESV). As we come to Christ with humble hearts, the One who opened blind eyes in the Gospels will show us his truth. And we shall move from confusion to understanding, from darkness to light, and from dead religion into a living relationship with the God who longs to be known. God bless.