在威爾斯（H. G. Wells）的一部小說中，登山者努涅斯從山上跌入山谷，結果發現住在山谷裡的人全都雙目失明。一種疾病使最初住在那裡的人成為盲人，並導致他們的後代子孫全都先天性失明，也適應了盲人的生活。努涅斯試圖向他們解釋「看見」是什麼感覺，但他們卻不感興趣。最終，努涅斯找到一條穿過山峰的小路，得以離開山谷，重獲自由！然而，努涅斯因地利之便發現一大片土石流，將淹沒這群盲人所住的山谷，努涅斯回去警告他們，但他們卻置若罔聞。

這本名為《盲人國》（The Country of the Blind）的小說，可能會讓先知撒母耳深有同感。當撒母耳年老時，他兩個兒子都不像他那樣愛上帝、事奉上帝（撒母耳記上8章3節）。撒母耳的兩個兒子屬靈的眼睛都是瞎的，以色列的眾長老也是如此，因眾長老要求撒母耳「立一個王」（4-6節）。他們都轉眼不看上帝，也不信靠上帝。上帝對撒母耳說：「他們不是厭棄你，乃是厭棄我。」（7節）

當所關心的人因屬靈的眼睛瞎了而拒絕上帝時，我們或許會傷心難過。但即使他們「被這世界的神弄瞎了心眼」（哥林多後書4章4節），卻仍有得救的機會。我們只要愛他們，為他們祈禱。這位上帝光照我們的心（6節），也會光照他們。

Nuñez tumbled down the mountain and into a valley where everyone was blind. A disease had robbed the original settlers of sight, and subsequent generations—all born blind—had adapted to life without being able to see. Nuñez tried to explain what it was like to possess eyesight, but they weren’t interested. Eventually, he found a passage through the mountain peaks that had prevented him from leaving the valley. He was free! But from his vantage point he now saw that a rockslide was about to crush the blind dwellers below. He tried to warn them, but they ignored him.

This tale by H. G. Wells, “The Country of the Blind,” would likely resonate with the prophet Samuel. Toward the end of his life, his “sons did not follow his ways” in loving and serving God (1 Samuel 8:3). Their spiritual blindness was mirrored by “the elders of Israel” (v. 4), who told Samuel to “give us a king” (v. 6). They’d all turned their eyes from God and faith in Him. God told Samuel, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me” (v. 7).

It can hurt when those we care for reject God in spiritual blindness. But there’s hope even for those whom “the god of this age has blinded” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Love them. Pray for them. The one who “made his light shine in our hearts” (v. 6) can do the same for them.