Mattew 8:1-4
1. When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
2. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."
3. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
4. Then Jesus said to him, "See that you don't tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them."
This short part is kind of hard to figure out what God wants me to know. What I see is the fact that the man asked God's will first like "if you are willing". Sometimes we pray but don't care what God's will is. We just ask like "please, please do it." What we want might not be what God wants. We need to ask his will first and trust he can do that if he's willing.
* I'm trying to go to early morning service everyday but it's really really hard. please pray for me that I can continue to live better christian life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Sungeun, i hope your home coming was wonderful! and may God bless you for your faithfulness our woman's group
when i read these passages i am humbled by the leper's faith and trust but also by the way he approaches our Lord... just like you said Sungeun, i usually just go straight into... give me this, and that... we ought to seek His will!
Thanks Sungeun! BTW, I miss you!!!
What you said is very true. We are like little kids, selfish and self-centered. We ask and demand for things and our wishes/desires from God and most of these things are according to our own will and not His. We never stop to think about what God wants for us or think that He knows what's best for us.
Something that I noticed from the leper was that it must have taken a lot of determination and courage to approach Jesus the way that he did. As you know lepers at that time were shunned and rejected from normal society. He could have been killed for approaching Jesus the way that he did but he was willing to come before Jesus because he wanted to be heal that badly. And he didn't even demand or beg Jesus to heal him but asked if Jesus was willing as if he would be okay even if Jesus said no and turned him away.
That's amazing...We should have that kind of faith. When we approach Jesus in prayer that we be able to accept whatever answer He gives us, even if it isn't the one that we want to hear or happen
I hope you are having fun back home in Korea Sungeun. It is really good to keep in touch with you via this blog! :)
As I read this passage I thought about how I often lift up prayer requests with "If it is your will God please grant me this or do this or help me with this..." BUT I know that my heart is not completely surrendered to his will most of the time as I am asking. It is almost as if I am doing the 'polite thing' but really not wanting to hear "No". I hope I can one day truly seek His will.
seungeun! it's so good to hear from you :)
In light of this passage, it is very admirable of the leper to go up to Jesus and ask Him to heal his body. As Michelle has mentioned, it did take a lot of courage and faith to go up to Jesus. May we have the same courage and faith in Jesus. Although we may not be lepers, I know that there is still issues in my life that needs healing.
thanks sungeun for your reflection. i'm so glad we can keep in touch this way!
i'm always very moved by this passage. leprosy was a truly horrifying disease. in the sight of God, however, our sins are probably every bit as horrifying as this poor man's leprosy.
no one would be able to bear the sight of us, either, if all our sins were exposed.
the physical infirmities we encounter in the Bible always have their spiritual equivalents--blindness, paralysis, deafness etc. leprosy can be equated to our exceeding sinfulness.
the leper knew his condition was hopeless. he comes to Jesus expressing one of the two greatest fears every one of us have when we come to God in prayer.
one of them is: is God ABLE to answer my prayer? the other is: is God WILLING to answer my prayer?
if we truly had confidence that the answer to both questions was yes, we would all pray a lot more.
the leper comes to Jesus with the right attitude. he knows Jesus doesn't have to do anything for him. humbly, he kneels before Him. "if you are willing," he says to Jesus, "you can make me clean".
what a blessed answer Jesus gives! "I am willing," He says to the man. immediately the leper "was cured of his leprosy".
this passage shows the heart of Jesus when we come to Him with our sins. He is not only "able" to forgive us of our sins and heal us of our diseases, but God be praised, "He is willing" to do so.
may He cause us to remember this the next time we are so guilt-ridden and assailed with doubt that we are tempted not even to ask.
Post a Comment