Seeing Clearly – Overcoming Spiritual Blind Spots

Familiarity breeds comfort, but it can also numb our spiritual discernment. The people in Genesis 11 “settled” in the plain—they got comfortable and stopped moving toward God’s assignment to fill the earth. When we drive the same route repeatedly, we stop noticing the potholes and potential dangers.

Spiritually, we can become so familiar with our routines, relationships, and patterns that we stop hearing the Holy Spirit’s warnings. We pray the same prayers, attend the same services, maintain the same friendships, all on autopilot. Experience is valuable, but it becomes dangerous when it closes us to God’s new instructions. The Israelites wanted to return to Egypt’s familiarity rather than embrace God’s promised future. Don’t let yesterday’s experience blind you to today’s divine interruption. Stay alert.

God confused the languages at Babel and scattered the people—not as punishment, but as redirection toward their true assignment. Sometimes God breaks what we’re building because He loves us too much to let us succeed at the wrong thing. That relationship that fell apart, that career door that closed, that plan that crumbled—what if God was saving you from something you couldn’t see?

We build towers to make a name for ourselves; God wants us to build altars to honor His name. When God breaks something in your life, He’s not breaking you. He’s breaking what would eventually break you. The potter reshapes the clay not out of anger but out of love and purpose. If something you’ve been building has fallen apart, don’t waste time being angry at God. He’s clearing space for something new—something aligned with your true assignment.

You cannot see your own blind spot that’s what makes it blind. Just as a driver needs mirrors and sometimes a passenger’s warning to avoid danger, we need trusted voices who can see what we cannot. The people building Babel had unity, but they lacked outside perspective. Everyone agreed, but everyone was wrong.

Pride tells us, “I already know.” Wisdom says, “Help me see what I’m missing.” The relationships you’ve stopped questioning, the patterns you’ve repeated too long, the habits you brush over— these are precisely where blind spots hide. God often uses people with the “gift of distance” to speak truth into our lives. Don’t dismiss the person who lovingly challenges your decisions. Don’t ignore the friend who sees the red flags you’re too close to notice. Overconfidence in your own vision is one of the most dangerous blind spots of all.

If you’re having vision problems, you visit an optometrist. If you’re having spiritual vision problems, you need prayer, fasting, and God’s Word. These aren’t outdated religious rituals— they’re the means by which God refreshes our vision and removes our blind spots.

Prayer invites God into our decision-making before we’ve made up our minds. Fasting quiets the noise of our desires so we can hear His voice clearly. Scripture acts as a mirror, showing us who we really are, not who we think we are. Isaiah 43:19 says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” God is already moving, but our blind spots keep us from seeing. You cannot steward what you refuse to see. Commit to these disciplines, not to impress others, but to see clearly. Build altars, not towers.