Scripture Daily

Context No. 2534 of 4322 · Tobit

Context · Reflection

Tobit 11:7-13: in context

7Raphael said, “I know, Tobias, that your father will open his eyes. 8Therefore anoint his eyes with the bile, and being pricked with it, he will rub, and will make the white films fall away. Then he will see you.” 9Anna ran to him, and fell upon the neck of her son, and said to him, “I have seen you, my child! I am ready to die.” They both wept. 10Tobit went toward the door and stumbled; but his son ran to him, 11and took hold of his father. He rubbed the bile on his father’s eyes, saying, “Cheer up, my father.” 12When his eyes began to hurt, he rubbed them. 13Then the white films peeled away from the corners of his eyes; and he saw his son, and fell upon his neck.

Tobit has been blind for years, and now his son Tobias comes home with the remedy the angel told him to keep from the fish caught on the journey. Tobias rubs the gall on his father's eyes; the white films sting, then peel away, and Tobit sees his son and falls on his neck. His wife Anna, who had wept for the boy, embraces him, ready now to die in peace.

The healing comes through something carried all along. Chapters earlier, Tobias had been told to keep the fish's gall, with no clear reason at the time; now it is exactly the medicine his blind father needs. What looked like a small, strange instruction on the road turns out to be the cure waiting for the appointed moment. God's provision often works this way, prepared long before we see its purpose, tucked away until the day it is needed. And when the moment comes, years of darkness end in the sight of a beloved face.

What has God had me carry or learn, its purpose unclear at the time, that may be exactly the remedy he is preparing for a later day?

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