Desperation

³⁵And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:  ³⁶And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.

 ³⁷And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.  ³⁸And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.  ³⁹And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.  ⁴⁰And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him,  ⁴¹Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.  ⁴²And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.  ⁴³And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

Matthew 18:35-43

When was the last time you truly cried out to God

in desperation for some need in your life?

What does a desperate person look like and how do they act?

More often than not desperate people are not quiet, well-mannered and shy. It is not that they are trying to intentionally be rude or loud but their desperation is pressing them to act in a manner that will get answers. In the case of the blind man, he was desperate and without sight. It wasn’t like he could just walk over to Jesus. He certainly could not press into the crowd to touch the hem of his garment as a woman had done. He was blind, he was desperate and he was loud. When he was shushed by some, his desperation would not allow him to be silent but to shout even louder. One other important point, his desperation was driven by faith. Jesus heard him. Jesus healed him. But what if the blind man was too polite to shout when Jesus passed by?

 So often our pride trumps our desperation and instead of calling out to Jesus we remain silent so as not to offend the crowd following Jesus. It is interesting that some in the crowd may have been offended that day but Jesus was not. His attention was caught by the shout and the Spirit of God responded to the man’s faith and healed him.    

Perhaps you need to be desperate enough that your faith and your desperation cannot hold back calling out to God when He passes by.

What are you waiting for?