For the narrator, his worst fear wasn't what he could see; rather, it was that he wouldn't be able to see. When he opened his eyes, he realized that he was surrounded by darkness and couldn't see anything. This was the freakiest part to me. He couldn't see if anything was near him or if something was about to attack him, so he wouldn't be able to protect himself in any way. At least with the pendulum he could see what was going on, and come up with an escape- even if it was torture to watch the pendulum slowly descend. To live in constant fear of what could be approaching in the darkness would be enough to drive anyone mad.
In the same way, many of us fear not being able to see. The loss of control when you can't see is frightening. But isn't that what God asks us to do? Step out in faith and obedience, even if we can't see where He's taking us? "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 ...I have such little faith sometimes. The darkness of the unknown, the loss of control, the surrender required... it scares me. Just being honest with all of you. I might be the only one like that. However, I know that the One who my faith is in will never forsake me, so I follow. "Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never farsaken those who seek you." Psalm 9:10
Commented on Sam's "Control and the Lack"
The speaker and most everyone else has fear of the unknown. We sometimes take for granted our sight that relays information to us, so we can try to wrap our minds around something. However, when that is taken away, we do not know what to do. We no longer have control and must simply let things happen. I agree that we should have faith in God, but sometimes we have trouble letting go of wanting to be in control. We should surrender our lives over to God and trust that He will take care of us.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that you brought up about being afraid of letting go and letting God have control is definitely fearful to me too. It all goes back to struggling with the fact that we don't know what our future holds at that point, because we no longer feel in control. The crazy thing is that we were never in control in the first place, God already was. Our "stepping out in faith" is just a simple acknowledgement that we realize that God is in control, so really it doesn't even change anything but our mindset.
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