Pool of Siloam (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

He did not ask.  The question never crossed his mind.   He had never seen red, let alone to consider the subtle difference between red and orange.  Dirt had no color at all.  And, beyond the reach of his fingers, the world was filled with utterly ghostly challenges.  Textured blackness was all he knew.  Noise and smell were the only possible warnings before something unknown drew near.  Living in the night with no light to guide his feet, who had testified the impossible possible?

He did not ask.  He was simply the subject of debate between the Lord Jesus and His disciples.  “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  How could the man know he had been born blind so that this conversation would find a suitable object for a lesson?

He did not ask.  Why those things had happened that morning; those things which brought him to that square foot of ground at just that moment?  There was no need to question anything.  But something was about to change forever.

He did not ask.  Yet someone plastered mud on the man’s eyes!  Of all the humiliating things he has endured.  Now he was the object of an art class.  Had he known he was to become a model this morning he might have presented a bit of persona different.

He did not ask.  But he was told to go wash in the pool of Siloam.  “So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.”

He did not ask for the reaction from his parents, or the subsequent verbal thrashing from the Jews.  He did not ask to be able to see their faces, nor to be quantified a liar.  And he did not ask that he should be thrown out of the temple that day.

He did not ask to be able to walk by himself in places before forbidden.  But now he did.  I wonder if he struggled to stay awake that night; afraid to close his eyes and see nothing but darkness again.  But surely sleep came, just as it had every night before.

He did not ask.  But the morning brought confirmation to a dream he had last night.  Eyelids flung open as soon as the mind brought him from dreams.  Breath filled his lungs with explosive inhale.  And this without his will.  “It was not a dream!”

He did not ask for time.  Who asks for time to come?  Most of us simply endure the next moment.  Time, however, had a different effect on this man than it does for most.  From that day and for years to come, that man lived in colors, shapes, textures seen, and faces recorded.  But the days and years ticked by without restraint.  I do not think that man ever regarded his eyes as people do who have always seen.  Even as old age came to take away what he did not ask for, there was the beauty of fuzzy objects to enjoy.  In the end death took away the gift.  But what need had he of those amazing little marbles then?

He did not ask.  He had no idea of what was coming.  Brilliance surrounds him now.  Colors, living colors dance through perfect eyes.  He did not ask through all those remaining years.  For who could know what he was about to see, even as death came to take back the colors and shapes.

He did not ask to be an object lesson.  For eternity, however, he will be an object lesson of the majesty of the God who caused him to be born blind.  And we should not doubt that he will enjoy his status in this regard.  What remains within Promise is more lovely than the colors and shapes this man saw without asking.

We did not ask.  For we did not know we were in need.  Wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked we are.  Who has known to ask when there was no question?  “Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

We did not ask.  But we were born in our own circumstances.  Who asks for mud?  Who craves to be “sent”?   Who has come away from Siloam healed for the Glory of God the Father?  I remember one more time when 10 were sent.  Only one re-appeared to praise God.  And I ask, “Who am I?”

I did not ask.  I did not dare approach, even in prayer.  Just when I thought I would die that Death, He came to deliver me.  And these words, all together in this place of testimony, praise the One who set me free.  This story has testified, there is a freedom yet to come which I cannot ask for.  How can I know what to ask that He hasn’t already prepared beyond my knowledge?  He will forever be first.  And we will forever be those who receive with praise, dedication and thanks.

Billions have not thought to ask.  Yet they received God’s generous gift of eternal life.  Do you dare hope for something you have never thought to ask?  Here you are reading these words.  Do you dare ask for what you do not know?  “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen.”  Isn’t that what is written?

No one asked.  But He has prepared this place of testing for His own Glory.  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”   Have you ever thought that the entire world was created for the sake of judgment?  What judgment could provoke all of creation?  Think about it.  And He does not ask too much of us.  For at His return, His reward is in His hand.

“No eye has seen,

No ear has heard,

No mind has conceived

What God has prepared for

Those who love Him”

We did not ask, but:  “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’”  “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”  He has answered even before we were created!

Glory to the One who lives forever!