Touch Our Eyes That We May See

Father, let thy light divine
Shine on us, we pray.
Touch our eyes that we may see; [emphasis added]
Teach us to obey.
Ours the sacred mission is
To bear thy message far.
The light of faith is in our hearts,
Truth our guiding star.
(chorus of The Light Divine, Hymns, Pg 305)

The Savior healed many and various infirmities, but not all, because He had certain criteria for performing a healing miracle. He always ascertained that those he healed had the faith to be healed, or at the least that someone close to them possessed the necessary faith. As always, He had a deeper purpose, and eternal purpose, for his miracles. Certainly, one of his objectives was to relieve physical suffering. He healed the lame, the blind, the deaf, those with diseases, those with evil spirits, those with various ills of body and mind, and even raised the dead. Compassion and love also motivated Him.

The chorus from the hymn above helps to explain His eternal purpose. He healed physically so that the spiritual infirmities people suffered from could be healed. He opened eyes and ears so that people could see with spiritual eyes and hear with spiritual ears. He healed the cripple so that, renewed, the person could walk in the light of the gospel. He healed the woman with an issue of blood so that she could be ritually clean and partake of all of the rites of Judaism and could fully embrace the gospel.

He cast out evil spirits so that the person could be free from satanic influence and exercise agency. He raised the dead so that the person so raised and those who knew of the great miracle could understand that the Savior had power over life and death, including His own. He raised the dead because He had compassion and love for those left behind.

His miraculous raising of Lazarus after he had been dead for four days demonstrates the power and knowledge of the Savior’s priesthood as he leads the resurrection. When Jesus requested that Lazarus’ tomb be opened, Martha said to Him: “Lord, by this time he stinketh.” All bodily functions down to the cell level had ceased, and decomposition begun. Neither Martha nor modern science could explain how the Savior could restore life once decomposition begins. Modern science could not restore even one cell of Lazarus’ body to life. Yet, the Savior only had to speak: “Lazarus, come forth” and Lazarus was restored to life. So then, can the scattered molecules of the millions who have passed away be gathered together and the spirit restored to create a new, eternal body, never to taste of death again. (see John 11:1-44)

He healed, and continues to heal, through the holy priesthood vested in His servants today, so that we may see with spiritual eyes, hear with spiritual ears, strengthen our feeble knees, and raise our arms that hang down. In Moses 1:11, Moses explains that one must have spiritual eyes to see the things of God:

But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld…

Most of us struggle to see with spiritual eyes, but some people who lack physical sight are blessed, because of their faith, with spiritual sight. Blind men who came to the Savior to be healed must have been blessed with sufficient faith to “see” the Savior as the great healer. Elder Marvin J. Ashton, in his book, Be of Good Cheer , page 99, described a man who had great spiritual sight but lacked physical sight:

I recall a blind man's reaction to a dedicatory service in the Jordan River Temple in Salt Lake City. He described the temple as being "beautiful, totally and completely." His cross [infirmity] made it possible for him to see the temple through spiritual eyes and feelings that were significant and pleasing not only to him but also to those of us with whom he shared his impressions.

In October 1994 General Conference, Elder Boyd K. Packer gave us the key to spiritual strength that gives us spiritual eyes:

As you test gospel principles by believing without knowing, the Spirit will begin to teach you. Gradually your faith will be replaced with knowledge. You will be able to discern, or to see, with spiritual eyes. (Ensign, November 1994, p. 60).

Spiritual ears are just as necessary to understanding eternal principles as are spiritual eyes. In Matthew 13:9, the Savior said: “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” He wanted them to open their spiritual ears. He taught in parables so that those with spiritual ears could hear, and those without them could not. The Prophet Jeremiah said:

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: (Jeremiah 5:21)

Jeremiah speaks to us today just as he spoke to the Israelites of his time. He wanted them and us to understand the need for the kind of spirituality that the Savior sought to give to those he healed. Sadly, there were those that did not find spiritual eyes and ears. Remember that when the Savior healed 10 blind men, only one returned to thank him. They missed the opportunity to see the Savior with spiritual eyes and hear Him with spiritual ears. Elder Boyd K. Packer connects spiritual eyes and ears with eternity. He says:

Revelation is the process of communication to the spiritual eyes and to the spiritual ears that were ours before our mortal birth. (Boyd K. Packer, Memorable Stories and Parables of Boyd K. Packer, pg 61)

The Word of Wisdom promises us:

And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint. (D&C 89:18-20)

I believe that these promises refer to the ability to see with spiritual eyes and ears and to have our bodies strengthened both physically and spiritually through obedience to the gospel and the Word of Wisdom. Eliphaz the Temanite, in Job 4:3-4 says to Job:

Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands. Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.

Eliphaz was not speaking of restoration of physical strength, but the great, almost miraculous service that Job performed for others. Job was a righteous man. He was a type of the Savior. He served others to give them spiritual eyes and ears and help spiritual strength return to their limbs. There is no greater gift we can give or receive than to have spiritual strength, sight, and hearing given to us.

There is no better way to strengthen our spiritual faculties than to sit at the feet of those who will offer their inspired thoughts to us in General Conference. In Luke 10:23-24 the Savior spoke privately to His disciples:

And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

This “seeing and hearing” can come to us through the Lord’s appointed prophet and His apostles. May the Lord bless us by “touching our eyes that we may see.”