Don’t Be Afraid to Ask For More!
There is no question that we are living in a fearful day. If we should grab a moment of hope, if you turn on the news, that hope soon evaporates. Fear can be as powerful as an actual affliction, sometimes even more.I was reminded today of a familiar Bible passage concerning one of the healings that Jesus performed:
22-23 So they arrived at Bethsaida where a blind man was brought to him, with the earnest request that he should touch him. Jesus took the blind man’s hand and led him outside the village. Then he moistened his eyes with saliva and putting his hands on him, asked, "Can you see at all?"
24 The man looked up and said, "I can see people. They look like trees—only they are walking about."
25-26 Then Jesus put his hands on his eyes once more and his sight came into focus. And he recovered and saw everything sharp and clear. And Jesus sent him off to his own house with the words, "Don’t even go into the village." Mark 8:22-26 (PHILLIPS)
In this passage we see that someone brought a blind man to Jesus hoping that Jesus could heal him. It is interesting to me that Jesus led the blind man outside of the village. For whatever reason Jesus did not want him in the view of the inhabitants of that village. Jesus then moistened His hands with saliva and laid them on the man. Asking the man if he could see, the man replied that he saw men as trees walking around. This always struck me because how did he know what trees looked like, perhaps he was not born blind. Jesus then laid His hands on the man again. At this point the man could see clearly. What if the man had left Jesus with only half a miracle? What if Jesus hadn’t asked Him what He saw? And the next statement is so interesting, because Jesus told him not to even return to the village. Could it be that perhaps the people in the village would somehow diminish what had happened to him and the man might have lost his miracle?
I have personally witnessed people who have been touched in a service to the extent that they testified to having received their miracle. Later, it appeared as if they did not receive it at all, the condition appeared to have returned. What I surmised from that is that Jesus was patient with the blind man, not trying to force him into saying he was healed, and he was not. Secondly, Jesus tarried with him until the job was complete. Finally, Jesus did not want him to return to his old ways, He wanted him to start fresh, going forward into a new life.
There is another scripture that comes to mind when I think on these things:
Don’t throw away your trust now—it carries with it a rich reward in the world to come. Patient endurance is what you need if, after doing God’s will, you are to receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:37 (PHILLIPS)
There are times when asking once is not enough, and there are times when after receiving we must go another way.
Maria