Luke 18:41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.
Sometimes, the Lord is Waiting on Us
A couple of days ago we talked about the fact that prayer is essentially waiting on God, and that waiting on God is the very essence of prayer. We took that from Jesus’ parable in Luke 18. Later on in the chapter we find an example of persistent prayer. The story is about a blind man.
When Jesus was nearing Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the highway begging. He was begging because that is all he could do. He was needy and he knew it. This need wonderfully set him up for the right kind of stance toward the Lord Jesus when Jesus came.
As the Lord Jesus came by, the blind man heard the multitude and asked what was going on. He couldn’t see, but he could hear. He knew something was afoot. When they told him that Jesus was passing by he cried out, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” Those around him “rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou son of David, have mercy on me.”
This demonstrates the persistent, waiting kind of prayer. How long all this took I do not know. It may have been a matter of a few minutes, but as to the nature of it, it was persistent prayer. People told the blind man to be quiet, but he just doubled down on asking for mercy.
Sometimes, I can pray for things for years before God answers. Other times, it might have been a matter of a few moments. But each of those prayers has been the same persistent prayer just on a different scale. When the blind man came to Jesus, Jesus asked him, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” The man replied, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.”
Why did Jesus ask him what he wanted? Wasn’t it obvious? He wanted mercy. He said that two or three times. What Jesus was doing was basically saying, “Everyone needs mercy. What kind of mercy do you need?” Jesus knew the need, but the man had not yet been drawn out in his faith and in his asking. He replied, “Lord, that I may receive my sight.” Jesus replied, “Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.”
It occurs to me that the blind man was doing what we ought to do. He was praying persistently. But it also occurs to me that Jesus was waiting on him. He was waiting on him to be specific. He was drawing him out. I am not saying that God is quick to answer our requests by saying, “Ah, you didn’t ask right. I am not going to answer your prayer.” But I am saying that prayer is to draw us out, and if it is not drawing us out, then it is not praying.
This man was to be specific. If I say, “Lord, bless the day, bless Bob Smith, and bless the church,” that is not necessarily wrong; but what do I mean by all that? What is it for which you are asking? Be specific. Be real. There is no passionate praying without some sort of specificity. Being persistent is not going to take the place of being specific, and being specific will never take the place of being persistent. I need to specifically ask God for what I need and keep asking until He changes my heart or gives me an answer in some way.
This morning, I saw a list posted on our refrigerator. It was a specific list of things one of my children wanted for his birthday. Now, he did not say, “Dad, bless my birthday, and I ask for gifts.” No, he was specific. Now, I don’t know if he will get these gifts, but I know that he is in earnest and specifically dependent upon me. That is the way we ought to be with the Lord Jesus. We should be persistent. We should be plain. We should ask God for exactly what it is that we need.
Sometimes we are waiting on the Lord, for that is the very essence of prayer. At other times, the Lord may be waiting on us, to draw us out, to strengthen our faith, and to help us to be clear with ourselves as to what we are asking for.