Our Scripture of the week is Psalm 46:10a - "Be still, and know that I am God!” Why is it a good thing to pause daily and think about God??
We get so busy with our lives, with our relationships, with our jobs, with our recreation, with our entertainment, and so on and so on, we forget the reality of God, our Creator and source of everything!
Busyness in life seems to be the norm today which is the opposite of what people need, being in the arms of God! We all need to be in the arms of God, the Creator of the entire universe!
And part of being so busy without God is impatience. People’s impatience is an indicator of the lack of God’s presence. The Bible tells us that the first 4 fruit of God the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, and patience. Do we want to have love, joy, peace, and patience in our lives? – Allow God to be present instead of ignoring Him or even taking Him out of our lives!
How is our patience? How real is God in our daily lives?
As we continue to worship our God today, the Gospel of Mark is unique in this simple but yet interesting story of Jesus healing a blind man. Open your Bibles to Mark 8… and read along with me v22-26…
Let us keep in mind that Jesus Christ is God and could have healed the blind man with just a word; we can note many immediate miracles in by Jesus in Scriptures. Let’s take a closer look at this story which is again only here in the Gospel of Mark. There’s a reason why God kept this story in the Bible! All Scripture is God breathed and is useful for everything!
v22a: Bethsaida (map) is on a major trade route and is always busy with people.
Now, take a closer look again at the second part of v22; what 3 things likely the people knew??
v22b: The people knew the blind man, Jesus, and the power of Jesus (only a touch is needed!).
And what else can we note about the people? The people also had compassion on the blind man! They begged Jesus!
Now look again at v23-24…. What can we take note of this passage??
- Jesus could have healed the man immediately and on the spot with just a word!
- Jesus led the blind man to a quieter place and the man followed.
- Jesus touched his eyes and the man responded patiently to the question.
The blind man could have gotten frustrated that he was not healed right away; but he was patient! Could it be that Jesus was testing his trust and patience with God? I truly believe this is the point of this story. This is why it ended the way it did in v25-26.
v25-26: Jesus completely healed the blind man and told him to celebrate privately at home first!
God made sure that this story of Jesus healing in stages is taught to followers of Christ including us. There will be times in our Christian lives in which we are to go through the same process of healing as the blind man in Bethsaida.
1. The blind man had good friends who cared for him. This is one of the purposes of being in a church family! A church family is to be a caring community!
Let’s ask ourselves privately and personally; how are we doing in caring for one another in church? And so,
2. We are to know Jesus and His power more and more but also know each other at church more and more!
3. The people begged Jesus; that was their prayer! How’s our begging (praying) for Jesus’s healing? And after we pray, we are to…
4. Trust Jesus to lead us because He’s always right no matter how long it takes.
And finally, the healed blind man was asked to celebrate privately at home first!
5. Be careful of public celebrations which can lead to boasting instead of actual praise to God!
