ARE YOU IN NEED OF JESUS’ HELP?
John 9:6,7 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
Why did Jesus heal the man using mud made from his spit? Jesus could heal people without even being with the person as we see with the centurion's servant. He could have laid his hands on the man, or just spoke healing to the man. Once again I believe that this goes back to free will and faith. Faith is the action taken regarding our belief, that gives God permission to intervene in our life. God has the ability to heal every single person in the world in an instant if he would want to. He doesn’t because he is resolved to respect our free will in order for us to be able to love him. James 4:2 tells us that we have not, because we ask not. Asking is an act of faith that says, “God please intervene in my life and help me.” Our need motivates us to look to God, or at least it should! Most often even for Christians, we will go through all sorts of ways to take care of our need before asking God for help. We get a headache and run and get a pill, and never ask the Lord to take away our headache or even help the pill to work. The consequence is we never praise the Lord when it is gone. If anything we say, “Boy, that new Advil sure is great!” Well, how about God? So am I saying that we need to find ways to make God look good even when he hasn’t really done anything? No! God doesn’t need our help in making him look good. God is greater than what we can even present him or understand him. Exalting the Lord is a honor and privilege for us! Having God help us builds our faith and trust in him, and that is good thing!
This man had been born blind. Because of this he had never seen Jesus before, and certainly couldn’t see him as he stood before him. He may or may not have heard about Jesus’ ability to heal and do miracles. if he had, not being able to see he would not have known if Jesus was even before him or if someone did tell him that Jesus was before him, if it really was the same Jesus that could heal. This blind man really had little hope in being able to see that day. Others could see Jesus do miracles, and in turn go to him and receive their miracle. This man might as well have been a baby in this circumstance. This man had very little reason to even hope for a miracle to see. What Jesus did with the mud gave him reason to do something even if it was to wash the mud made out of spit off his face. Jesus gave the blind man a need besides the blindness. Get rid of the mud!
The command to go to the pool of Siloam motivated his hope. The pool of Siloam was possibly a mikvah or a ritual bath for spiritual cleaning. The man certainly needed cleaning at least to get the mud off of his eyes, but he like all of us needed a spiritual cleaning too. His need motivated a hope and he went. His going was an act of faith, and that act of obedience to his faith opened the door or blinded eyes so that the man could see.
Sometimes we can get so down in our life for one reason or another we don’t have enough hope to muster enough faith to take that step of obedience. Maybe like the blind man, we were born into a family that didn’t love and trust in Jesus, or were even religious! We may have had a great need, but didn’t know where to turn to find help. We were like the blind man assuming things would never change, but then we might hear of Jesus and all of a sudden we can have hope we never dreamed possible before. For some people that hope is quickly snatched away but Satan, the powers of darkness and people in the world. They are quick to remind us that they have never see anyone have a real miracle. Things like miracles are for weak minded people that religious people pray on for money. Every ounce of hope can be drained away in seconds. Unless, the need is greater than the doubt and fear. Sometimes desperate people will do desperate things if the need is great enough. My friend told me that he heard many tough, foul mouthed, God denying soldiers cry out to God at the bottom of a fox hole. Just sometimes the desperate times in our life just might bring enough hope and faith to cause us to reach out to Jesus and have him save our life. What we thought was the worst thing that could have happened to us , became our God sent salvation. Later that day some religious leader were trying to find out how he was healed and who did it. The man left Jesus blind, so he didn’t know even what Jesus looked like. His response to the religious leaders was, “One thing I know. I was blind and now I see!” They became upset with the man when he told them that, “God doesn’t listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.” Then they threw him out of their presence. Sad to say this often happens. Those that tried to discourage us will also try to rob us of the joy of our miracle and even our salvation. They will do it too if we let them!
After the man was thrown out, Jesus went to him and asked him if he believed in the Son of man? When Jesus said he was, the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Jesus. The man born blind went from no hope, to a need, to hope, to faith, to obedience, to his miracle, to salvation all in one day, and it all came about with an encounter with Jesus Christ.
Do you have a need in your life today? What are you going to do about it? You can sit can cry and feel sorry for yourself. You can get mad at God, and harden your heart toward him. You can take matters into your own hands and try to take care of that need, or you can go to Jesus for help. Remember he will always respect your free will. If you want to live your life that way, he will let you be swallowed up by your need. If you do it is your own fault. James 4:2 says, “We have not because we ask not.” You asking is an act of faith in Jesus that sets him free to do great things in your life. Jesus is doing great things all over the world every day for people that have enough faith in him to seek his help. You miracle is just a prayer away!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for healing the blind man. When he had not hope, you became his hope and salvation. Please help us to always be quick to ask for your help, and then to be sure and thank you. We love you Jesus, and ask this in your holy name.
