Our Pastor preached a sermon yesterday that used the following Scripture from Matthew 20. “29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 They *said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.
I was struck by many things in this little gem of a story. First, these men were not intimidated by the large crowd around Jesus. Those who have lost one of their senses, have been found to have even keener senses in those remain. Blind people hear much better than the seeing do, so I know these men heard the large crowd following Jesus, but they cried out to Him anyway. And when the crowd tried to hush them up it says, but they cried out all the more.
I think we give up on issues in prayer far too easily, I know I do. I have several things that I am praying about right now and they are far beyond my ability to do anything about them, so I pray hard. I am learning to just ask and keep on asking. The other thing I noticed was Jesus response to these men, “32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” I am learning to be very specific in my prayers and in my crying out to God. I am learning to trust Him with childlike trust. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Psalm 133. Here it is:
Psalm 131
O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty;
Nor do I involve myself in great matters,
Or in things too difficult for me.
2 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother,
My soul is like a weaned child within me.
3 O Carole, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever.
Notice how I placed my own name in the Psalm. I pray Scripture over people and situations all the time. I feel so helpless in my life and I want to do so much, but I am so limited. God didn’t just give me my gifts and talents, he also gave me my limitations and boundaries. He has a Sovereign purpose in both. I am learning to live within those boundaries with great victory and great peace. These blind men had learned to live with their weakness, but they wanted to be whole, they didn’t give up on their desire to be healed. When Jesus was passing by, they cried out to Him, and He asked them what they wanted. They told Jesus, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” Notice the “We” in their request. They were not just concerned with themselves, but with each other. They had grown to care for one another in their weakness. They depended on each other, they trusted each other. O, Body of Christ, how much we can learn from the humility and tenacity of these two men. Let us come to Jesus, as little children, like in Psalm 131, with child-like trust and faith. Let us just lay our heavy burdens at His feet and just ask and keep on asking. Let us not grow weary in our prayers about the things in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Jesus is always passing by, He is always listening. He is our Precious Savior and He is soooooooooo good and gracious, merciful and kind. Let us say with the Psalmist.
O _______________, hope in the Lord
From this time forth and forever. You fill in the blank, He is listening.
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