Mark 8:22-26 “They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.” Today's episode explains a little more about what is going on in this verse. It also talks about how God didn't leave this man partially blind and He won't leave your hopes & dreams partially fulfilled either. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God’s Timing
Mark 8:22-26 “They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Can you see anything?” And the man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Then he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”
I remember hearing someone explain this verse. I can’t remember who explained it, but they were pointing out things that I wouldn’t have thought of and yet make so much sense. They pointed out that Jesus took the blind many by the hand and let him out of the village. One reason He might have done this is to get him away from the crowds. Not because Jesus didn’t like crowds but because crowds were probably over whelming for the blind man. He couldn’t see anything but he could hear everyone around him and with the number of people that followed Jesus, that could have been sensory overload. Jesus takes him out of this environment and off to where they can be alone.
Next, Jesus doesn’t command the eyes to see as he has done in the past. He doesn’t just immediately heal the man’s eyes. First he put some saliva the eyes and then laid his hands on him. I wonder what that guys was thinking? I mean, he is standing there with Jesus, asking for a healing, and Jesus puts spit in his eye. If he had heard the stories of all these miraculous healings, where Jesus just tells a paralytic to get up and walk and he does, then he probably thought this was strange. Why did Jesus put saliva on the man’s eyes? What was the purpose?
Next Jesus did something else that was different, he asked the man if he could see anything after Jesus laid His hands on the blind man. It seems like usually Jesus was the one telling the person that they were healed and yet in this case Jesus asked the man if he was healed. The man replied he could see people, but they look like trees, walking. Jesus laid his hands on the blind man again and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Why did Jesus heal this man in stages?
One article I read talks about how this man may not have had as much faith as his friends did. The verse said ,“some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.” The blind man wasn’t doing the begging, the friends were. It seems like this man had just enough faith to let his friends bring him to see Jesus. In Mark 10:47 we will see Jesus heal another man and that man was doing all the begging himself. He knew Jesus could heal him and he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. The blind man here in this passage is not really saying anything. He is more just letting things unfold as they will. The blind man did have some faith. He had enough faith to let Jesus lead him out of town and spit in his eye. The author of the article I read thinks this is why Jesus healed this particular man in stages. He was trying to build his faith along the way.
The article goes on to mention that the gradual restoration of sight of the blind man was meant to symbolize the slowness of the Twelve in attaining spiritual insight. Their eyes were opened very slowly, similar to this man with his sight. Jesus is saying, “You started of completely spiritually blind. Then your eyes were gradually opened to understanding me and God’s kingdom. Over time you will see and understand clearly. I know things are spiritually fuzzy for you right now, but all will be made clear.” Wow, I hadn’t though of that before.
How many of us feel spiritually fuzzy? I love that phrase. I think we all feel that way, at least in some areas. We might think we have a pretty good idea of some things and then others are a complete mystery. That is normal. If Jesus is telling the 12 disciples that their eyes will be opened gradually, and they got to be around Jesus 24 hours a day 7 days a week then I think it is understandable that our eyes would be opened gradually as well. The more we seek to understand the Lord, the more He will reveal to us. We must go out and do the seeking though. We must be the ones to engage first. We must be the one search for the answers. God says, when we ask He will answer, when we seek we will find, when we knock the door will be opened. Have you been seeking lately? Have you been knocking lately? Have you been asking lately?
I wonder if this delay in the thing you would like is so that God can build your faith gradually? I wonder if the delay in the things I want is because God is still building my faith so that when I get the thing I want I am ready for it, I can appreciate it? I feel that is exactly what God has been telling me lately. I seem to want to run ahead of God. When I was at my Encounter Class and the leaders were praying over me, one of the shared the vision she got with me. She said it was as if I was running down this street just looking for people to heal and God was saying, “Slow down, wait for me!” I keep hearing God tell me that He knows my dreams, he knows my desires and He is preparing me for them. I am not ready yet, but when I am he will give them to me.
Is it the same for you? Are you still growing, are you still learning? Are there things you have to learn or believe before your deepest desires can come true? Maybe you are not stuck, maybe you are gradually gaining all you need. I know waiting on God’s timing can be tough, believe me I know. I know sometimes we just want to run when God wants us to walk. I get it. Also, God’s timing is better than ours. We find that hard to believe sometimes because we feel we have timed things our pretty perfectly. However, God sees all the little things we don’t see and if it hasn’t happened yet, there is a reason for it. Nothing is arbitrary with God. Every single thing that happens is known to God long before it is known to us! He has a plan, ask Him for it, seek it out, knock on the door and it will be opened. God restored this man’s sight, he didn’t leave him partially healed, he fully healed him. He won’t leave your hopes and dreams partially fulfilled either. The plans God has for you are greater than you could even dream. Let Him lead you there just as He led this blind man out of the city and changed his life forever!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to the podcast today. Lord, we want to see clearly spiritually. We want to seek and to knock and to ask, please help us do this. Lord, help us have the patience to wait on your timing, we know it is the best timing, we just get impatient at times. Help our belief grow in you and in your ability to make all of our dreams come true. Open our eyes Lord. We are so grateful for all you do for us. You are truly amazing and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you hear again tomorrow. We got some snow here last night. If you have snow where you are I hope you are all having fun and staying safely off the roads. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I! Have a blessed day!