Lord, Do It For Me | I’m Looking for a Miracle, Pt. 2
I want to come to the end of this year and encourage you and I toward a faith—a robust, confident expectation—in God to do exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or even imagine. - Pastor Charlie Dates
Mark 10:46-52 NASB
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.” 50 Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
We have these moments in life where the striking, strange beauty of something makes you stop and look again.
What makes Heaven stop?
This passage in Mark is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus stands still. What, if anything, do we have that makes Jesus stop and take another look at the beauty of what’s going on?
Faith is the moving shade of beauty that captures God’s attention.
You will come to the point in life where you face some impossibility and need Jesus to stop and look at you.
Bartimaeus faces an impossibility... he’s blind. He can’t earn a living so he’s parked on the side of the road. Begging.
What Bartimaeus lacked in physical eyesight, he made up for in faith. He was spiritually sensitive.
You might not have eyesight but you can have insight. You might not be able to see but if you can grab hold of what you hear, what you hear can change your life...
Because faith comes by hearing.
We don’t have faith in faith or faith in ourselves. We have faith in Jesus.
You don’t have to have seen Jesus do it...
To believe that He can do it...
Then experience Him to have done it.
Close to a Breakthrough
When Bartimaeus hears Jesus is coming, he calls out to Him. The people around him tell him it’s Jesus of Nazareth, but he calls Jesus the Son of David.
Bartimaeus sees something in Jesus bigger than the neighborhood He comes from. Bartimaeus refers to 2 Samuel 7 to point out God’s promise to David.
Bartimaeus is saying, “We’ve been waiting on you.”
Getting God’s Attention
Then Jesus stood still and called for Bartimaeus.
We can’t make God do anything, but we can get His attention.
When Bartimaeus got Jesus’s attention, Jesus called him.
When He calls you, something is about to happen. You can’t control the outcome, but you can do everything in your power to get God’s attention.
Some of us are in life-changing situations where God is calling us to something impossible and we feel limited in our power. But He has more than enough. When He calls you, He equips you.
The Same God
Faith may not be saying what will happen so much as it is believing what has happened. If you can believe what Jesus has done in the past then you can believe for what Jesus will do in the future.
In verse 52, the original language means Bartimaeus’s soul was saved. Because he believed that Jesus had the power to make him see, Jesus fixed the totality of his being.
God is so much a God that He never does just what you ask Him for. God is willing and able to do much more.
Faith in who Jesus is and what He’s done can free you from the circumstances that confine you...
But the goal is to get on the road and follow Jesus.
Reflection Questions:
What impossibilities in your life feel overwhelming right now, and how does Bartimaeus’s story encourage your faith in Jesus?
Bartimaeus refused to stay silent despite others telling him to stop. Are there areas in your life where you’ve held back instead of crying out to God?
What steps can you take this week to demonstrate the kind of faith that moves you closer to Jesus and His plans for your life?