my hope has come

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him...
Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!
(John 9: 1-3,6-7)

I can't even imagine that, being born blind- never seeing anything- and then God blessing me with being able to see. How would that feel? Knowing (after the fact, of course) that I was born blind SO THAT God can glorify Himself in giving me SIGHT...

His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!”
But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”
They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”
He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”
(John 9: 8-11)

People didn't even know who he was. His blindness defined who he was. God took that defining characteristic away to give glory to His name. And some people didn't want to believe that God could to amazing things like that.

...“He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!” (John 9:15)

I'm sure that statement to so many people sounded ludicrous. And the truth is, it still does. God still gives sight to the blind, opens the ears of the deaf, a voice to the mute... He heals lepers and makes the lame able to walk again... He sets the captives free! It just doesn't look the same all the time. And so many people don't know that they're slaves...

But as for me, I know this for sure about my God:
You break through my deafness, swing open the curtain, and I find the courage to get up and walk. I forget my weakness, for you've answered my lonliness.
Through the mud on my eyes, I can see- my hope has come!