And Jesus said, I Am… – Mark 14:62, Amplified Bible

In Mark 14 Jesus stood before His accusers in stone cold silence – until, that is, the high priest asked Him if he were indeed the Messiah. At that moment of truth, Jesus answered, “I am,” and then pandemonium broke out. Immediately the assembly condemned Christ to death, and soon after our Savior hung on the old, rugged cross for us all.

“How is it,” we may wonder, “could these people not see that Jesus was who He claimed to be?” After all of the signs, after all of the wonders, after all of the fulfilled prophecies, and after all of the authoritative teaching, why could they not see the power, majesty, and holiness of the Son of God before them? The answer is simple: God Himself did not give them eyes to see and ears to hear.

In John 12:39-40 (Amplified Bible), Jesus said:

39 Therefore they could not believe [they were unable to believe]. For Isaiah has also said,

40 He has blinded their eyes and hardened and benumbed their [callous, degenerated] hearts [He has made their minds dull], to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their hearts and minds and repenting and turning to Me to heal them.

In Deuteronomy 29:2-4 (Amplified Bible) Moses echoes this same idea:

2 Moses called to all Israel and said to them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land;

3 The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.

4 Yet the Lord has not given you a [mind and] heart to understand and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this day.

God alone gives us the ability to comprehend Him. If He does not grant us understanding, we will remain in the dark as to who He really is.

There are plenty of times when born-again believers have a hard time seeing Jesus. When reading the Bible we may see only words and not the Person behind the words. In trials we may see only the storm clouds and not the Savior walking on the water towards us. During times of drudgery we may see Creation as dull and boring rather than recognize the splendor of God’s sunsets or mountains or sea. When we are blind and deaf to God, we are so because He has made us so. And, He has made us so because we – like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day and the stiff-necked Israelites of Moses’ day – have become more interested in pursuing our own interests than in pursuing God’s.

Is Jesus unfamiliar to you right now? Do you feel like you don’t know Him anymore? If so, then realize that God is keeping you from seeing Him clearly because you don’t want to see Him clearly. You are trying to handle your current situation your own way, with your own wisdom, and in your own strength. You are masking Him by focusing on yourself. Until you cease seeing yourself as the solution to your problem, He will continue to hide Himself from you.

When faced with spiritual blindness, pray unto God the same prayer that blind Bartimaeus prayed in Mark 10:51 (Amplified Bible): “Master, let me receive my sight.” Ask Him to remove all obstacles you’ve erected that blind you to His glory, and ask Him to give you eyes to see and ears to hear. He will be faithful to answer your sincere prayer, and He will gladly manifest Himself to you in all of His splendor!