What We See Is Not Everything

Sunday, October 11, 2026 · Pastor Dale Roh

"Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him." — John 9:3 (KJV) Scripture: John 9:1–7

Blessed Are the Eyes That See and the Ears That Hear

The Bible tells us that God had not given the people eyes to see, ears to hear, or hearts to understand. In Deuteronomy 29:4, Moses told the Israelites, “Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.” When God called Isaiah to be a prophet, He gave him a similar message. In Isaiah 6:9–10, God declared that the people would hear but not understand, and see but not perceive. These words revealed God’s judgment upon a people whose hearts had become hardened. Yet they also pointed forward to an important aspect of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus came into the world, He often taught through parables. Many people listened to His words, but they could not understand their deeper meaning. However, when Jesus was alone with His disciples, He explained the parables to them. In Matthew 13:16, Jesus told His disciples, “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” Many people saw Jesus with their physical eyes and heard His voice with their ears. Yet not everyone understood the truth He was teaching. The disciples were blessed not simply because they could physically see and hear Jesus, but because He was revealing the truth of God’s kingdom to them.

Throughout our lives, we observe the world with our eyes, listen to others, and make judgments based on what we have seen, heard, and experienced. Over time, our experiences shape our understanding of life. We develop our own perspectives and use them to interpret the circumstances around us. However, our experiences have limitations. Just because we have seen something does not mean we understand everything about it. Just because we believe we know the reason behind a situation does not mean our judgment is correct.

We need more than our own eyes and ears. We need to learn to see through Jesus and understand life through His Word. When we begin to see the world through the Word of Jesus rather than relying entirely on our own experiences and judgments, our perspective changes. This is one of the greatest blessings we can receive. John chapter 9 illustrates this truth through the story of a man who had been blind since birth. As we examine this passage, we discover something remarkable: the man who could not see was not the only person who needed his eyes to be opened.

The Disciples Saw the Past, but Jesus Saw the Work of God

In John 9:1–2, Jesus encountered a man who had been blind from birth. When the disciples saw him, they asked Jesus, “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” The disciples wanted to understand why this man had been born blind. Their question reflects a common tendency in human thinking. Whenever something unfortunate happens, we naturally search for an explanation. Why did this happen? Who is responsible? What went wrong? We want to identify the cause because we believe that understanding the cause will help us make sense of the situation.

The disciples approached the blind man in much the same way. They connected his blindness with sin. In their religious environment, suffering was sometimes understood as punishment for wrongdoing. Based on this understanding, they assumed that either the man or his parents must have committed some sin that explained his condition. But Jesus answered them in a completely different way. “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 9:3) Jesus was not declaring that the man and his parents had never committed any sin. Rather, He rejected the disciples’ assumption that this man’s blindness was the consequence of a particular sin committed by him or his parents.

The disciples were concerned with the cause of his blindness. Jesus spoke about the work God would reveal through him. The disciples looked at the man’s past, but Jesus saw what God was about to do in his life. The disciples had physical eyes, but they could not see the work of God that was about to be revealed. They interpreted the man’s condition according to their understanding, while Jesus knew what He was going to accomplish.

We often approach our own lives in the same way. We interpret our circumstances through our past experiences. When we try something and fail, we begin to expect failure the next time. When we repeatedly encounter difficulties, we may conclude that our situation will never improve. At first, our experiences shape our thoughts. But eventually, those thoughts begin to shape how we interpret new experiences. Without realizing it, we can become trapped within the boundaries of our own understanding. We assume that because something has never happened before, it cannot happen in the future.

However, Jesus is not limited by what we have experienced. The man in John chapter 9 had never seen anything in his entire life. Blindness was the only condition he had ever known. He had no personal experience of seeing the world. Yet Jesus was about to accomplish something the man had never experienced or imagined. Our experiences lead us to judge the future based on the past, but faith allows us to look toward the future through the Word of God.

The Clay on His Eyes and the Word in His Heart

After telling His disciples that the works of God would be revealed in the blind man, Jesus immediately began to act. John 9:6–7 tells us that Jesus spat on the ground, made clay with the saliva, and applied it to the man’s eyes. Then He said, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” I have often wondered why Jesus chose to put clay on the man’s eyes.

Last week, I cleaned out a large amount of grass, twigs, and other debris that had accumulated beneath the cross on our church building. There is a space between the cross and the wall where birds had built their nests. We had left the area alone for some time, and the birds had practically built an entire apartment complex there! I wanted to clean everything out much earlier. However, when I realized that the birds had laid eggs and were raising their young, I decided to wait. I did not want to disturb them. By last week, the young birds had grown and left their nests, so I finally cleaned the area.

As I worked, dust and small pieces of debris fell all over my face. It was extremely uncomfortable. As soon as I finished, I went inside and thoroughly washed my face. That experience made me think about what Jesus did to the blind man. When something unpleasant gets on our face, we naturally want to wash it off. We become aware of the uncomfortable sensation and want to remove whatever is causing it.

The man in John chapter 9 had been blind since birth. He had never experienced sight, and living without it was the reality he had always known. But then Jesus put clay on his eyes. That must have created a new physical sensation. It may have drawn the man’s attention to his eyes in a way he had not experienced before. Then Jesus told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash. Because there was clay on his eyes, the instruction to wash would have been very concrete and understandable.

The Bible does not explicitly tell us why Jesus used clay or exactly what the man was thinking. However, it is reasonable to consider that the clay may have helped him focus on Jesus’ instruction. The clay on his eyes gave him a reason to wash, while the Word of Jesus told him where to go and what to do. The words “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” entered his mind and remained with him. He may have had many other thoughts. Who was this man who had put clay on his eyes? Why had He done this? What would happen if he went to Siloam? Yet, among all those thoughts, the words of Jesus became the direction for his next action.

He walked to Siloam with his own feet, but the words of Jesus were guiding his steps. He did not yet fully understand who Jesus was. He did not know everything that was about to happen to him. Nevertheless, he followed the instruction Jesus had given him, and when he washed his eyes, he received his sight. The blind man may have gone to Siloam simply to wash the clay from his eyes, but Jesus intended to open his eyes. The man did not know what Jesus was going to accomplish, but Jesus knew. The man could feel what had been placed on his eyes, but Jesus knew what was about to happen to those eyes. This is an important distinction between our understanding and the work of God. We often focus on what is happening to us at the moment. God, however, can accomplish things that go far beyond what we presently understand.

The Word of Jesus Became the Greatest Authority in His Heart

There is another important aspect of this story. The blind man probably had many thoughts as he made his way toward Siloam. Yet at that moment, the instruction Jesus had given him became the most important influence on his actions. His other thoughts may not have disappeared. He may still have been confused or uncertain. Nevertheless, he was moving in the direction Jesus had told him to go. Faith does not mean that every other thought disappears from our hearts. It means that the Word of Jesus becomes a greater authority than our own thoughts and judgments.

This is the kind of change we need to understand. Before we receive God’s Word by faith, our experiences and judgments often carry the greatest authority in our hearts. We look at our circumstances and become worried. We remember our past failures and conclude that something is impossible. We listen to the opinions of others and allow their words to determine what we believe. But when we receive the Word of God by faith, something begins to change.

Our circumstances may remain difficult. Fearful thoughts may still arise. We may continue to face uncertainty. Yet the Word of Jesus begins to take a different place in our hearts. Instead of allowing our experiences to determine what is possible, we begin to trust what God has said. Instead of allowing fear to direct our decisions, we learn to follow His Word. Faith is not the absence of other thoughts. Faith is allowing the Word of Jesus to have the greatest authority among all our thoughts.

Think about the blind man walking toward Siloam. He was still blind as he walked. His physical condition had not yet changed. The miracle had not yet become visible. However, something important had already begun to change. The words of Jesus were directing his steps. His eyes were opened at Siloam, but his direction had already changed when he began following the Word of Jesus.

This teaches us something essential about faith. We often believe that change has occurred only when we can see the results. We expect our circumstances to improve, our problems to disappear, or something extraordinary to happen. But the work of God can begin in our hearts before any outward change becomes visible. When the Word of Jesus takes the place of our own judgments and begins to guide our decisions, an important transformation has already begun.

The Change We Should Value Most

I hope we can learn to value this kind of change more than anything else. We naturally want our circumstances to improve. We want our problems to be resolved, and we want to see visible results. There is nothing wrong with desiring these things. However, there is something even more important than a change in our circumstances. It is the change that takes place when the Word of Jesus becomes the greatest authority in our hearts.

If we continue to look at ourselves and the world only through our own thoughts and judgments, we may remain spiritually blind to what God can do. We may have physical eyes that see clearly, yet fail to recognize the possibilities that exist through the power of God. But when we receive the Word of Jesus by faith, our perspective begins to change. Things that once seemed impossible may look different when viewed through God’s promises. We begin to take steps that we would never have taken if we had relied only on our experiences.

Remember what Jesus said when He saw the man who had been blind since birth: “But that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” (John 9:3) The disciples saw a man whose condition seemed permanent. Jesus saw an opportunity for the work of God to be revealed. We should remember that what we see is not everything. What we have experienced is not everything. What we can understand or explain is not everything. God is able to work beyond the boundaries of our understanding.

In Philippians 3:15, Paul wrote, “And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Paul was speaking about the importance of spiritual maturity and allowing God to correct our understanding. We often assume that our own thoughts are right. We believe that our experiences provide enough evidence to determine what is possible and what is not. But God’s perspective may be very different from ours. Therefore, rather than holding tightly to our own judgments, we should allow the Word of God to challenge and correct our thinking.

Have you experienced failure so many times that you now believe success is impossible? Are you looking at your present circumstances and concluding that nothing can change? Are you allowing your past experiences to determine what you believe about your future? Then consider looking at your situation from a different perspective—not merely by thinking more positively, but by considering what God has said and what He is able to do. Our experiences may tell us that something is impossible, but God is not limited by our experiences.

The blind man followed the words of Jesus and went to Siloam. Before he reached the pool, he was still unable to see. Yet his steps were already being directed by the Word of Jesus. When he finally washed his eyes, he entered a world he had never seen before. We also need this kind of change. Before our circumstances change, we need the Word of Jesus to become the greatest authority in our hearts. Before we see the results we hope for, we need to learn to trust His Word more than our own experiences and judgments. And even when the results are different from what we expected, we can continue to trust the Lord who knows far more than we do.

I hope we will treasure the moments when our hearts begin to change through the Word of God. When we begin to trust His Word more than our fears, that is a precious change. When we begin to follow His Word instead of remaining trapped by our past experiences, that is a precious change. When we begin to see our lives through the promises of God rather than through the limitations of our own understanding, that is a precious change.

What we see is not everything. God still has work to do. Let us believe that God is able to work in our lives, even when we cannot see how or when He will act. And let us allow the Word of Jesus to guide our hearts, our decisions, and our steps. The greatest change we need is not simply a change in our circumstances, but a heart in which the Word of Jesus has become the greatest authority.