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.

IT TAKES FAITH AND PERSISTENCE TO GET AN ANSWER TO PRAYER

Faith is a requirement for answered prayer. But there’s another aspect of faith that God wants us to have because it’s also a requirement for getting miracles and answers to prayer. This aspect of faith is called perseverance, persistence, or endurance. It’s called not giving up. God wants you to persist and persevere in faith. He wants you to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, keep on confessing, keep on waiting, keep on enduring, keep on believing.

Why? Because PERSEVERANCE IS A CONDITION OR REQUIREMENT FOR ANSWERED PRAYER. Hebrews 6:11-12 tells us,  And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:  (12)  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Now the word patience literally means ‘endurance’ or longsuffering. It means to patiently suffer, wait, and endure. A lot of Jesus’ miracles in the Gospel accounts were performed immediately. That is, a person asked Him for help and, right then and there, the person got his/her miracle.

But when the Lord tells us here in Hebrew 6 that we inherit the promises by faith and patience, the Lord’s telling us what we already know from experience, namely, that not every prayer is answered right away as far as a manifestation is concerned. Not every miracle is performed instantly right after you’ve asked. Some miracles and answers to prayer take time. That’s just the way it is. We can’t have everything right away. And we can’t tell God what to do or when to do it. God’s the Giver, He’s the Healer, He’s the Miracle-Worker; and He’ll give, heal, and work a miracle, in His own good time and way.

By God’s design, He let us wait. He lets us suffer some more. He lets the storm rage on for just a little bit longer. Why? Because He wants to teach us to wait, persevere, and persist. Why wait? Because He’s decided that THERE ARE TIMES—NOT ALL THE TIME, BUT SOMETIMES—WHEN WE NEED TO BELIEVE AND WAIT BEFORE WE GET AN ANSWER TO PRAYER. In verse 15 of our Scripture text we read that Abraham, after he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Do you know how long he waited and patiently endured before he got what God promised him? 25 years!

Thankfully, God doesn’t let us suffer and wait for 25 years every time  we pray and ask Him for something. But still, when God decides that He wants us to suffer and wait before we get our miracle, He wants us to know that, EVEN THOUGH HE HASN’T ANSWERED OUR PRAYER YET OR HASN’T GIVEN US OUR MIRACLE; HE NEVERTHELESS STILL WANTS TO GIVE IT TO US. But we’ve got to wait, suffer a little bit more, hang on, and don’t throw in the towel. Brethren, don’t quit believing. Don’t quit asking. Don’t quit expecting. Don’t quit confessing. Don’t quit hoping. Don’t give up!

Now the text of Scripture here in Hebrews 6:12exhorts us to be followers of them who, through faith and persistence, get the promises. The word follow here literally means to mimic or copy; to imitate or be just like someone else. In other words, we’re supposed to be just like those persons in the Bible who got promises, miracles, and answers to prayer because they believed God, and suffered, and waited; they persevered, persisted, and endured; until they got what they asked God for; or got what God promised to give them.

Since we’re supposed to mimic these people who got their miracles, we’ve got to know who they are and see what they did. After all, we can’t copy someone if we don’t know who they are or what they did. So with this in mind, I’d like to spend the rest of our time  looking at a couple of people who got what they wanted because they persevered.

 A BLIND MAN THAT WE CAN MIMIC

Mark 10:46-52  And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.  (47)  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  (48)  And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  (49)  And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.  (50)  And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.  (51)  And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord,  that I might receive my sight.  (52) And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Jesus and His disciples were traveling through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem. They were going there for the Passover feast. This was one of the yearly feasts where every Jew, thirteen years old and older, was required to attend. So, there’s a lot of people from all over the region, continent, and empire, traveling along with Jesus, going to the Passover in Jerusalem.

As they were leaving Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting by the side of the road. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, blind Bartimaeus cried out and said, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  Evidently, Bartimaeus had heard enough about Jesus and His miracles to know that Jesus could heal him of his blindness. Just as importantly, as every Jew would know, he knew that one of the things that Messiah would do when He comes is, he would restore sight to the blind (Isaiah 42:7,16). The Messiah, the Son of David, is here! He’s just a few short feet away! Here was Bartimaeus’ golden opportunity to get healed!

So he called out to Jesus. Now Bartimaeus isn’t talking in a conversational tone of voice or volume. There’s a huge crowd around Jesus. There’s a lot of talking going on, a lot of noise, so Bartimaeus has to yell and scream  in order to be heard. So he yells, Jesus, thou Messiah of Israel, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Saying have mercy on me, to a Jew, was the same as saying, heal me, or help me.

So here is blind Bartimaeus. He cries out to Jesus to heal him and do you know what? He doesn’t get a response. Maybe Jesus didn’t hear him. So he yells out a second time. And this time he yells out louder. And do you know what Jesus does? He keeps right on walking past Bartimaeus! So what does Bartimaeus do? He keeps on yelling and shouting, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. He was yelling so loud and persistently that the people who were traveling with Jesus came to Bartimaeus and told him to shut up. Now if these people who told Bartimaeus to shut up heard him yelling, then you can be sure, absolutely sure, that Jesus heard him too. But Jesus doesn’t stop to acknowledge or help him. 

Do you know what Bartimaeus did after he was told to stop yelling? He went right back to yelling. And because Jesus just keeps on walking, now He’s farther away from Bartimaeus. So Bartimaeus yells out even louder. Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. Bartimaeus, you see, didn’t give up. He didn’t quit yelling when he was ordered to quit yelling. He didn’t listen to what people were telling him to do.

What’s even more significant, bold, and blatant about Bartimaeus is this. He’s yelled out to Jesus. Jesus doesn’t pay him any mind. He ignores him. He keeps right on walking past Bartimaeus. Jesus hasn’t stopped or skipped a heart beat. He’s continuing to walk towards Jerusalem. And if you and I didn’t know Jesus any better, we would have interpreted Jesus’ actions here to mean, Bartimaeus, Jesus is walking past you. He isn’t stopping. I guess He doesn’t want to heal you. If He wanted to heal you He would have stopped. But He didn’t. I guess it’s not His will  to heal you. You’ll just have to live with it and get over it. Jesus is  in a hurry to get to Jerusalem. He ain’t gonna stop for you.  So shut up and quit yelling for Him.

Do you see what I mean? Jesus has ignored Bartimaeus and the message that Bartimaeus is getting is, Jesus doesn’t want to stop and help me. Bartimaeus ignores the message. He doesn’t let Jesus’ apparent “No” discourage, deter, or stop him from yelling and asking some more. He doesn’t take a No from Jesus! How bold, blatant, and presumptuous can you be? This guy wants to see. And he’s not going to let anyone, including Jesus Himself, stop him from at least asking. Bartimaeus will not be silenced. Bartimaeus will not be denied.

If you were Bartimaeus—if you were told by more than one person on more than one occasion to shut up and quit yelling; if the message you got from Jesus was that He wasn’t interested in healing or helping you; would you have stopped yelling?

Bartimaeus, you see, wanted to be healed bad enough. He was blind. He couldn’t follow Jesus around like the rest of Jesus’ followers. I’m convinced that, if he could, he would have followed Jesus to the ends of the earth until Jesus gave him what he wanted. But, alas, his blindness prevented his mobility. Jesus didn’t come to Jericho every day. But on this particular day, Jesus was here. Who knows when He’ll be by this way again. As it turns out in hindsight, Jesus would not be in Jericho again. He’s on His way to Jerusalem to die. This was the last known time that Jesus would be in Jericho. For Bartimaeus, and unknown to him, there is no second chance. There’s no other opportunity to get ahold of Jesus. Jesus is here right now. And now is all the time, the only chance, that Bartimaeus has to get ahold of Jesus. So Bartimaeus just keeps on persisting and calling out for Jesus. He’s gonna get ahold of Jesus if it’s the last thing he does.

Jesus has left Bartimaeus in the distance. But He stops now and tells His disciples to go back there and fetch this screamer. What do you want, Bartimaeus? And the blind beggar answers, Lord, I want to see. I’d like for you to see just how big, or how strong, Bartimaeus’ faith was. Bartimaeus was blind. And in those days, as even in ours, there was no cure for blindness. Blindness was something that you lived with for the rest of your life. But not Bartimaeus! He wasn’t content to live the rest of his life blind—not as long as Messiah was here. Not as long as the Miracle-worker was here. Bartimaeus believed he could be healed and see. Wow! What faith! And what persistence! If only we all could be like this blind beggar!

Jesus, in response, says, Go your way. Your faith has made you whole! Hallelujah! What a God! What a dramatic scene! What started out as a denial became a later miracle. An initial denial or refusal from Jesus could have been so discouraging, so devastating, so depressing, as to cause Bartimaeus to quit believing, quit hoping for a miracle, quit yelling. But Bartimaeus refused to take a No, even from the Lord! He persisted and kept on asking, kept on believing. He didn’t give up! And as a result, he went home seeing.

God’s initial refusal or no, my friend, does not mean that it’s not His will to answer your prayer or give you your miracle. God’s initial, continuing refusal is simply His way of getting you to yell some more and keep on yelling. Why? Because you need to believe and persist if you want your miracle.

Coming Up On My Next Blog Post, Part 2. The inspirational example of a couple of blind men who would not be denied.