Gaylord Diaz's Blog

TWO OTHER BLIND MEN THAT WE CAN MIMIC

 Matthew 9:27-31,  And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us.  (28)  And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.  (29)  Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.  (30)  And their eyes were opened; and Jesus  straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.  (31)  But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.

Jesus is in His hometown of Capernaum. He has gone to Jairus’ house and He’s raised Jairus’ dead daughter back to life. Leaving the house, Jesus heads back home with His disciples. As He was en route, two blind men followed Him, crying, Thou Son of David, have mercy of us.

Now the verbs crying and saying in the Greek text of verse 27 are in the present participle tense. It’s the tense of present and continuing action. In other words, these men didn’t just ask Jesus once: they kept on asking and asking. They continued to ask. Do you know why they did that? Because Jesus ignored them and kept right on walking home. I’ll show it to you in just a moment. But for now, Jesus paid them no mind. He acted as if He didn’t hear them. As in Bartimaeus’ case, here was Jesus’ initial refusal to acknowledge or assist them. It was, from all outward appearances, a definite, convincing NO to their prayer and plea for a miracle. And, just as  in  Bartimaeus’ case, the message that these two blind men are getting is, Jesus doesn’t want to heal us.

So what did the blind men do? They kept right on following and crying out, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us. It’s called persistence. It’s called refusing to be denied. It’s called refusing to take No for an answer, even if that No is coming from the Lord Himself!

So is Jesus’ initial denial a definite No to your prayer and plea for a miracle? If you were these two blind men, would you have given up on Jesus and gone home? You see, like Bartimaeus and the blind men, you have a choice. You can go home and live the rest of your life blind. Or you can follow on, not give up hope, and get your miracle from God. What’s it going to be?

Perhaps your faith has been shattered by God’s apparent refusal to acknowledge or answer you. Perhaps you’re disillusioned with God, even angry and bitter, because you just can’t understand why God won’t help you. Brethren, could it be that your faith’s been shattered because you’ve quit yelling? Could it be you’re disillusioned with God because, instead of continuing to follow Him and cry out to Him, you’ve turned around and gone home? Could it be you haven’t gotten your miracle or answer because you’ve given up? You say you gave God time. Lots of time. Funny you should say that because God was giving you time too—time to persevere and persist—but you gave up too soon. I mean no disrespect. And I’m not being insensitive about the hurt, anger, and disappointment you might feel towards God. I know what it’s like to hurt and not get an answer to prayer. But someone has to say it and I guess I’ve been chosen by God to say it: you gave up too soon.

You know, now’s not too late to get your miracle. You’ve still got a chance to get it.  But  you’ll  need to apologize to God first if you’ve gotten angry with Him. Then ask Him for your miracle. Then wait for as long as God takes.

People today are so impatient. No one likes waiting. Especially me. I’m about as impatient as they come. But after waiting on God for years to answer a couple of my prayers, I’ve become convinced that GOD TAKES THE LONGEST TIME TO ANSWER THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO ARE IMPATIENT WITH HIM. I don’t have any Scriptures to back this up, so I’ll tell you right now that I may be wrong about this. If I am and if I’m charging God falsely I publicly apologize to Him for it. But, as far as my experience goes, God takes the longest time to answer the prayers of those who are impatient with Him. And HE TAKES THE LONGEST TIME BECAUSE HE’S TEACHING THEM TO BE PATIENT. THE SOONER WE LEARN THE LESSON AND BECOME PATIENT, THE SOONER WE GET OUR PRAYERS ANSWERED.

Now I don’t want to mislead you and make you think that God’s going to take years before He answers everyone of your prayers. That’s not the case. Some prayers He answers right away. Some within a reasonably short period of time. And others, after a few months or years. The timing is in God’s hands and we have no control over that.

God knows when you need an answer NOW. He knows when you need a miracle NOW.  Because if you don’t get it NOW, you’ll be dead. If not dead, you’ll come to the end of your endurance and you can’t possibly endure the trial another minute longer. God promised that you won’t be tried longer than what you can endure,1 Cor. 10:13. When you reach the end of your endurance, that’s when the trial ends. That’s when you get your miracle.

Thankfully, God answers you NOW when you really need it NOW. GOD KNOWS WHEN TO GIVE YOU YOUR MIRACLE. AND YOU JUST HAVE TO REST ASSURED THAT YOUR MIRACLE WILL COME AT THE RIGHT TIME. IN GOD’S TIME.

I said that these two blind men cried out to Jesus and Jesus didn’t pay any attention to them. He ignored them and kept right on walking home. Note verse 28 with me, And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus is at home now. There’s a knock on the door. Two guys want to see Jesus. Guess who they were. You got it. It was the two blind men. They set their fears and apprehensions aside, and asked, Is Jesus here? Would you mind if we see Jesus? The blind men, I’m saying, aren’t giving up. They really want to see Jesus and they’re not going to leave Jesus alone. They’re not going to let Jesus rest until He pays attention to them.

Well, you know how the story ended. They asked Jesus to heal them and that’s exactly what Jesus did.

So what’s the lesson that God would have us learn today? It’s this. There are times when answers to prayer come after, and only after, we’ve persisted and persevered in faith. Sometimes—not all the time—but sometimes, He lets us wait. And He even makes it look as if He isn’t paying any attention to us, He isn’t listening, He doesn’t care, He’s at the back of the boat sound asleep. But He does care, brethren. His  initial No is His way of getting us to persist and not give up. Why does He want us to persist? Because it’s through faith and perseverance that we inherit what God’s promised us.

Don’t despair and think, just because you haven’t gotten the answer or the miracle yet, that it isn’t God’s will for you to have it. Listen, brethren. IF GOD MADE YOU A PROMISE, IT’S BECAUSE IT’S HIS WILL FOR YOU TO HAVE THAT PROMISE. IF IT WASN’T GOD’S WILL FOR YOU TO HAVE WHAT HE PROMISED, THEN HE WOULDN’T HAVE MADE  YOU  THE  PROMISE.  But He promised it. You have the promises. They’re written all over your Bible. It’s God’s will for you to have what He promised. You’ve assumed the wrong thing. You thought it wasn’t God’s will to give you what you asked. So you gave up and quit asking. But the fact of the matter is, it is God’s will to give you what you asked. Just not right now, but later.

Brethren, JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVEN’T GOTTEN IT YET DOESN’T MEAN YOU WON’T GET IT OR YOU’LL NEVER GET IT. DELAY IS NOT DENIAL. God’s seeming NO at first is really His YES—after you’ve believed and waited. Brethren, God’s teaching you persistence. So hang in there. Don’t throw in the towel! Don’t give up! God bless you and help you persist.