God is Willing

We often hear wonderful stories of how God intervenes in people’s lives. "My wife had cancer. I had the minister come to the hospital to pray for her. And now, four weeks later, she’s healed! Praise the Lord! God is good!"

Or "My son was headed in the wrong direction. My husband and I felt helpless. We didn’t know what to do about it. But we asked for the church to pray for him. Three months later, he walked into our Sunday am worship service. The preacher’s message cut to the heart. And he gave his life to Christ. I am SO grateful for what God has done in our lives!"

Or someone will say, "I’m 88 years old! And I feel just as strong as I did when I was 60. God has blessed my life so much! God is good!"

Stories like this are told so that we will be inspired. And so we will believe that God is active and involved in our lives.

But deep down, some of us are thinking, "What about me? How come God doesn’t do stuff like that for me? Does He care? Is He willing to take away my health problem? Is God willing to make MY life better? Is God willing to make His presence known in MY life?"

I’m willing to bet that the leper in this story used to think thoughts like that all the time. You see, leprosy was a dreaded skin disease. Not just because of the harm it did to you physically. But because of the harm that it did to you socially. Leviticus 13:45-46 says that "The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ’Unclean! Unclean!’ 46 As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp." There was no cure for leprosy. And many Jews regarded it as a punishment from God for sins committed. I’ll bet this man felt forsaken by God and hated by humanity every day of his life.

But he had heard the good news about Jesus Christ. He heard about how Jesus healed a demon possessed man in the Capernaum synagogue. He heard about how Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother in law. He heard about all the people who came to his doot late at night. And how the Lord sent each one away healed andforgiven.

And the leper said to himself, "Here’s my chance! Here’s my chance to ask God for help! To ask God for healing!"

Back then, Jewish people weren’t allowed to associate with lepers. So this man must have had a lot of guts to approach the holy Son of God. He could have made crowds of people ceremonially unclean. He could have made the Lord ceremonially unclean!

But at the same time, he approached Christ with humility. Verse 40 says that "He fell on his knees. And he said, "Lord if you are willing, you can make me clean."

Most of us do not have a hard time believing that God CAN work powerfully in our lives. We have a hard time believing that God WANTS to work powerfully in our lives. We have a hard time believing that God is interested in little old me. The hymnwriter puts it well: "Does Jesus care when my heart is pained Too deeply for mirth or song? As the burdens press, and the cares distress. And the way grows weary and long?"

The answer is in the chorus: "Oh yes, He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares."

That was the experience of this leper. In verse 41, it says, "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out His