They were blind. Dark is all they saw. However, there was nothing wrong with their hearing. They knew that Jesus, the Healer, was near. So they shouted their cry for mercy.
I have shared my journey about learning the value of praying for mercy. I have found that a cry for mercy is more important than a cry for God to do a certain thing. Too many times our specific requests come out more like commands. A cry for mercy allows God to shape His answer to our greatest need. In the end, that’s what I want. However, when I am so focused on what I think will answer my cry, I become demanding. That’s why I am learning to pray a cry for mercy before I pray for any specific answer. The more desperate my need, the more mercy I want.
How did Jesus answer these two blind men’s cry for mercy? He asked them an important question: “Do you believe I can do this?” Of course we assume He meant healing their blindness. But I also like to think He was asking: ”Do you believe that my mercy will give you what you need?” I think it takes more faith to let God choose the answer to our cry for mercy than it takes to believe He will do some specific thing. I fear we fight our biggest faith battles there; with the question of whether what God chooses will be enough for us.
I know I fought that battle where our daughter’s many physical issues became my cries for mercy. Did I believe God had the power to heal? That was not where I struggled with faith. Was I willing to let God choose what healing He gave? I struggled hard there. My faith was weak and filled with fear and the unanswered questions of what if. When I learned to begin my prayers with a cry for mercy, I started a new faith journey to let God choose what Lisa or I needed most. That’s when I heard Jesus' question about my own blindness.
Do you believe that my mercy will give you what you need?
When my answer was “yes,” my faith grew. I looked for what God was doing rather than what I wanted Him to do. There I found all peace and great hope.
According to your faith, Jesus told them. Not according to what you want God to do or what you believe He can do. According to your faith that what God will do makes all the difference you need.
Jesus touched the place of their greatest brokenness and healed it according to their faith. I know He will do the same for you. Begin with a cry for mercy. Let that cry restore your faith and grow it more fiercely anchored in all of Who God is so that He has complete freedom to start untangling the fear before He heals the wound.
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