There is an amazing eleven word passage in John 9:1, “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.”
The “He” is Jesus and the blind man’s name is unknown. All references to him are either “he,” “a man,” “this man,” or “our son,” but no name is ever used. His name is lost to history, but read the passage again and you will notice something astounding. “He saw a man blind from birth.” “This man” had never seen anything. He had never seen his parent’s faces. He had never seen a sunrise.
All these things are true, but there is something profound and deep in these eleven words – “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.” Here are three profound truths:
1. He Sees You First
Jesus saw this man before this man ever saw Jesus. That is a great truth for all of us. Before you were born, He knew you. Before you saw him, He saw you. Before He was on your mind, you were on His mind.
This is not a new truth. Hundreds of years earlier, God told the prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
2. He Knew You First
This blind man did not know Jesus, but Jesus knew him. There are more than six billion people alive today and billions of them do not know the true God, but the true God knows them. He knows all of them. He knows not only the rich and privileged, but also the poor and deprived. He even knows the unknown blind man in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.
3. He is Here
Jesus was in the presence of the blind man even though the blind man did not know it. Just because you do not see Him does not mean that He is not here. Moments before the blind man saw Jesus, Jesus was there. The blind man did not know it, but that did not change the fact of the presence of God.
The next time you read that one verse, remember: He sees you before you see Him. He Knows you before you know Him. He is there. He is here. He is always here.
~Lonnie Davis