Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.Heb 11:1
"I can’t see you," I whispered. "I can’t hear you either. But I know you’re there, Lord, I can feel you all around me."
She was born in 1880, the daughter of a Confederate Army officer, a normal healthy child. But at nineteen months of age she developed a serious illness that left her unable to hear. Or see.
Her formative years were difficult. She had no practical connection to the outside world. Instead she lived in a world of silence, a dark void with no ability to communicate except through tantrums and fits of rage. At the age of six the specialists deemed her incorrigible with no hope for a normal life. After all without eyes and ears it would be impossible for her to thrive. She could never make it.
But then a miracle occurred. A remarkable young woman walked into her life, someone acutely aware of the difficulties of the deaf and blind. The Teacher, as she came to be known, taught the child to communicate with her hands. She started by using her own fingers to draw the letters W-A-T-E-R in the palm of one of the child’s hands, while holding the other under a spigot of flowing water. And it worked. The child made the connection. Her education began.
She soon learned the English language, and became proficient at reading Braille. She learned to communicate with others, to type, and even to write. And against all odds she went to college, earned a Bachelor’s degree, and then made a successful career as an author, lecturer and esteemed political activist. In short, she made a profound difference, and she did it all without ever having seen or heard the world around her.
As I consider the life of the late Helen Keller, I am reminded of the difficult challenges that face anyone desiring a close walk with God. We can’t hear His voice, we can’t see His face, and yet, it is still possible to know Him intimately. To understand how He thinks. To comprehend His will.
"But how?" some may ask. "If I can’t see him, how do I know he’s there? "If he never speaks to me, how do I know he’s real?"
By learning to communicate with Him. Our eyes and ears add the finishing touches to our understanding of things, add depth and color and dimensions that vividly brighten our lives. But they can also draw our attention away from God. Think about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They listened to the serpent, then they looked at the tree. Enticement gave way to sin, and death entered the world. What if they’d never seen the fruit? Or never even heard the tempter? What would have happened?
No, it is not with our eyes or ears that God chose to reveal Himself to us, but by reaching deep within us to stir our spirits and build up our faith. For only by faith can a man ever walk closely with God. But faith takes time. Hard work. You develop it by spending time with God in prayer, by diligently studying His Word, and by reaching out to others in search of His Spirit within them. And when that faith begins to grow you discover vast treasures all around you that you never knew existed.
I’ve never seen God, and I’ve never heard his voice, but I recognize the touch of His hand. I sense His awesome presence. He opens my eyes and ears to add the music and colors to my life. This builds my faith, and fills me with assurance that He is always there.
Once I knew only darkness and stillness... my life was without past or future... but a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hand that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped to the rapture of living.
–Helen Keller
