TODAY IS…

the perfect day to take off the blinders

“Then the magicians said to Pharaoh,‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had said.”  Exodus 8:19 NKJV

Horses that were used to pull carriages and wagons were often equipped with “blinders.” These devices were secured to the heads of the horses and blocked the vision of the horse from the side. This prevented the horse from becoming distracted or frightened by things that it saw out of the corner of its eye, allowing it to focus on moving straight ahead.

While blinders may be a good thing for horses, they are not usually good for humans. When we are of singular vision, we often grow stubborn and refuse to see the bigger picture.

Very often the bigger picture contains the truth.

Pharaoh had his “blinders” on when Moses repeatedly demonstrated to him that God was using Moses to convey a message to him. God enabled Moses to repeatedly start, and stop, plagues against Egypt to let Pharaoh see God’s power and to convince him to let the Israelites leave Egypt.

Ten different times, ten different examples.

A plague of blood, frogs, gnats, flies, hail, locusts and others. Even Pharaoh’s own trusted advisors could not sway him, so stubborn was he. His stubbornness exacted a toll upon the people of Egypt that culminated in the deaths of all the firstborn of the people and cattle in Egypt, except for those of the Israelites before that stubbornness was overcome.

It took inconvenience, pain, discomfort, and death before he finally took off his blinders.

To be stubborn is to be unreasonable or unyielding. It is easy to see, for most of us, how this can be damaging to our relationships, especially our relationship with God. Paul’s words to the Romans should serve us well in understanding how being stubborn can affect our relationship with God and bring about less than desirable consequences.

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…” (Romans 2:5 NASB).

Being stubborn can also have very adverse effects on our relationships with our spouses, children, friends, and co-workers. Being stubborn can blind us to ways that we are mistreating those we love, and are sinning against the Lord, who loves us.

Today is the perfect day to pray for God’s help in removing your blinders so that you may see all that there is to see.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson