Behind Blue Eyes

By Ron Thomas

    I have always liked the song with the title “Behind Blue Eyes” by the rock group The Who. It is a song the singer, writer and just about anyone else can relate to in a special way. Not everything in the song relates, but the general tenor of the song connects with people very well, perhaps like the song by Keith Whitely, “I am no stranger to the Rain.”
    Both musical tunes in different genres connect with the struggles people have regularly. No matter how vibrant a person appears on stage, on television, or in public in a different venue, the same struggles are present.
    A young lady lost the “love of her life” because she made a choice and it did not include him. He moved on, but she struggled more than she realized when she saw him again. A young professional man is about to get married because “it’s the logical step” to a long relationship, and all the while the young lady does not feel loved, but only lonely. A powerful woman in the business world can’t seem to connect with a male because she is always afraid the male (now boyfriend) is interested in her because of her position.
    Each one presents themselves in a façade sort of way, allowing others to think that behind those blue (any color) eyes, all is well, when things are not well at all.
    Blue eyes crying in the rain!
    When Solomon was standing in front of the people praying to the Lord, dedicating the newly built Temple in Jerusalem, he used a word any thoughtful person can relate to. “What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house” (1 Kings 8:38, KJV).
    Did you notice it? The word is “plague.” When every person knows the plague of his own heart, when that person prays, in this case toward the Temple, Solomon appeals to the Lord to hear and heal. Other translations use words and terms like affliction, wound, heartfelt sorrow, pain, their troubles, but most (that I have) uses the word plague.
    That word conveys to me in a most accurate way what the Lord wants me to understand. That which I have in my heart, that with which I continually contend with is a plague, a disease that if not addressed will kill me, and in this case, spiritually. When Solomon prayed, he prayed the Lord would hear and heal, but the one who prays must first heed.
    Behind blue eyes that are crying in the rain – there is a solution, and the solution is not within self. The solution is the Lord. It always has been, and it will never be anything but Him. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

- Ron Thomas preacher for the Sunrush Church of Christ, Chillicothe, OH. He may be contacted through the congregation's website. http://sunrushchurchofchrist.com/