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WHAT DO YOU WANT THE LORD TO DO FOR YOU?
"Lord, that I may receive my sight." Luke 18:41
What is the thing that not only disturbs you but makes you a disturbance? It is always some thing you cannot deal with yourself. "They rebuked him that he should hold his peace . . . but he cried so much the more." Persist in the disturbance until you get face to face with the Lord Himself; do not deify common sense. When Jesus asks us what we want Him to do for us in regard to the incredible thing with which we are faced, remember that He does not work in common-sense ways, but in supernatural ways.
Watch how we limit the Lord by remembering what we have allowed Him to do for us in the past: I always failed there, and I always shall; consequently we do not ask for what we want. "It is ridiculous to ask God to do this." If it is an impossibility, it is the thing we have to ask. If it is not an impossible thing, it is not a real disturbance. God will do the absolutely impossible.
This man received his sight. The most impossible thing to you is that you should be so identified with the Lord that there is nothing of the old life left. He will do it if you ask Him. But you have to come to the place where you believe Him to be Almighty. Faith is not in what Jesus says but in Himself; if we only look at what He says we shall never believe. When once we see Jesus, He does the impossible thing as naturally as breathing. Our agony comes through the wilful stupidity of our own heart. We won't believe, we won't cut the shore line, we prefer to worry on.
When I considered the question about the thing that disturbs me and also makes me a disturbance, I initially thought that the point was going to be to “grin and bear it.” Quit whining and disturbing others and know instead that “my grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor 12:9). Indeed, His grace is sufficient for you and me. And indeed, if we are continually complaining to others about our situations, perhaps we should take stock of our salvation and instead of casting our cares upon humans, “cast your cares upon [Jesus], for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) However, the message here is to persist in our cries to God.
I love the blind man in the passage above: after being told to quiet down, instead “he cried so much the more.” I think this is the response of someone who truly believes in the power of Christ, the Son of God. Or at least someone who was so hopeful of healing, combined with just a mustard seed’s worth of faith, such that he abandoned all sense of himself—other’s perception, dignity, emotional letdown if this was yet another failure, etc—and took the risk in order to get closer to Jesus, to be heard by Him. We can take a lesson there.
Are you in need, either small or great? Is there something that hits your thoughts weekly, or even daily? Cry out to Jesus. If you start to feel a force that beckons you to be quiet about your distress before the Lord, and that you either should not concern Him with it or He will not hear it—cry out so much the more! Cry out to Him and dare to have the hope that does not disappoint:
Rom 5:1-5 –
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
I am reminded that this hope is in Jesus Christ, not in the things that we desire from Him. There is a difference. For more thoughts on this passage, click the following link to read a blog post from last April, when I discovered that my hopes were somewhat errant and what true hope that does not disappoint looks like: Hope and Loss.
However, if you find yourself doubting in the midst of your desire to be hoping and believing, you are in good company. In Mark 9:14-29, Jesus encounters a man who’s son is possessed and may be near death:
Mark 9:21-27 –
“And Jesus asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. 22And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." 23And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes." 24Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" 25And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." 26And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, "He is dead." 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”
“I believe; help my unbelief.” What honesty, sprinkled with just a little belief in Jesus. What might God do in your life if you had that smallest bit of faith and pure honesty before Him?
Ask Him not only for help with “the thing that disturbs you,” but also for belief in Him in the first place. Tell Him that you desire to believe. Splay your soul out for Him, keeping nothing back. I think you’ll be encouraged at His response as you feel His presence with you. In fact, I can testify to this truth. Sometimes the worst thing that we try to hide from God is our secret doubt and less than 100% faith in Him, whether in specific circumstances or in general. He knows your every doubt. When we confess our desire to believe, acknowledging our yet to be perfected faith, we open to Him to come in and make sure of our faith where it was once unsure. He is the “author and perfector of our faith,” after all (Heb 12:2).
Believe in Him. Ask Him for help with your unbelief—cry to Him all the louder, as the blind man who then received his sight…as the father who’s son was healed. Look with desperate need and with expectancy to receive His help. He is already here with you. He is ready to reveal Himself to you in this very moment. Are you ready to behold Him? Have you asked Him? “Ask…seek…knock…” and “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” (Luke 11:9-13) Amen.
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