What if Jesus came to you and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

I was amazed this week to notice that he actually asked two blind men that question. The men heard that Jesus was coming down the road, and so they began shouting, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”  The crowd got annoyed and told them to be quiet, but they only shouted louder.

Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?”

He knew they were blind. He knew that when they asked for mercy they had a particular kind of mercy in mind. Did he just want to give them the opportunity to put their need into words? The opportunity to actually ask the One who could truly, completely heal them?

I love how Jesus interacts with us.

I love that he gave them that moment to put need into words. Words spoken out loud in the midst of a crowd. A crowd they couldn’t see but could hear and smell and sense. He wanted them to be specific about their need for His help.

What about me? What if Jesus asked me, “What do you want me to do for you?”

What do I really want? Obviously, I want John back. I want our life back. But, since that isn’t possible, what do I want God to do now? 

I am not sure that I know.

What about you? What is it you really want God to do for you? Jesus makes it clear that God cares. Repeatedly, He tells us to ask God for what we need. “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:22).

Prayer is a mystery to me. Certainly, I pray. You probably do too. We tell God all kinds of things He already knows and cares about more than we do. So why does He want us to pray?

I realized today that maybe He simply enjoys hearing that we care too. That we are becoming like Him. That we are aware of others’ needs and have compassion. That we agree with Him that, “She needs encouragement. He needs healing. She needs hope. They need awareness of your presence.”

I am excited when I see my kids caring for each other and for others. How much more is the Lord delighted by our willingness to love others so much that we will talk to Him about them?

We become part of His team as we unite our hearts with His. As we pray, the unseen world is filled with earnest words of hope and love and desire for God’s will and presence.

Incense rising. How beautiful!

We are children who run to our Father with the things we are powerless to change.

And, when they said, “Lord, we want our sight,” how did Jesus respond? He first had an emotional response: compassion. COMPASSION!  Just saying the word out loud is comforting. It is one of the sweetest responses of our hearts, and we experience it because we are made in His image. He is compassionate.

Then, he touched their eyes and immediately, they received their sight.  He touched them. He didn’t have to, but He did. Their sight was restored or maybe experienced for the very first time.

Their response to eyes wide open? They followed Him.

In our sin, we are in darkness.  We receive Him as Lord and we see! Then we follow. It is all right there; the gospel played out in the lives of two blind men.

I am not going to gloss over the fact that sometimes we ask for things and He doesn’t respond when we want or how we want. Jesus prayed that He wouldn’t have to go to the cross. God didn’t answer yes to that request. But, Jesus trusted God’s plan and will and purpose for His earth life.

He has set an example we can follow.

I am learning to rest in this: in reality, God’s no is a yes. God does tell us no, but that means He is saying yes to something else that is actually within His will and His plan.

HE is the author of my life, not me. So, I continue to grow in my acceptance of the story He is writing and the story He chose to write in John’s life. And our children’s lives.

It isn’t easy. It wasn’t easy for Jesus either.

But, we pray. We ask. We ask BIG! And we trust that His answer is perfect for us in ways we may not understand for awhile.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

learning to have the faith to ask,

and seeing that His no is a yes,

Maria