Worthy or Willing?

Mark 1:40-41“And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.”

Can I ask you a question? If you have leprosy, what do you think you would ask God for? It makes sense to ask for healing. But often we never ask for what we need, and we think that somehow we are more spiritual because of it. If you are a leper, what you need is healing from leprosy. The reason you have not asked for healing from leprosy is-most likely-you do not need healing from leprosy!

Now, is it always God’s will to heal? Well, how many people do you know who are over one hundred years old? Not many. Then is it never God’s will to heal? Well, have you ever been sick before? Since you are reading this, I can assume God does heal sometimes!

We ought to depend on God for what we need, no matter our need or our age. God’s answering our requests is based on His willingness, not our worthiness. When you really think about the words here in Mark chapter one, the leper did not ask the Lord for anything! He made a statement about Jesus: “If thou wilt. . . .” And the leper received a very short, concise, and immediate answer: “I will; be thou clean.”

What qualified the leper to receiving healing? Was he worthy? No, not at all. The reason he was healed is the Lord was willing. The leper was not qualified or worthy-he was needy and the Lord was willing. You will get today what you see yourself to need. God will not provide because we are worthy-He will provide because He is willing.

In Matthew’s Gospel account, this same story of the leper is followed immediately by the story of the centurion. This centurion is the exact opposite of the leper: he was whole, he had power, and he had wealth. But none of these things qualified him before the Lord. In fact, the centurion tells the Lord in Matthew 8:8, “I am not worthy. . . .” You see, he was not worthy either! If God provided based on worthiness, the centurion should have received his request and the leper should not have. But the Lord Jesus helped them both the same; the leper was healed, and the centurion’s servant was healed. God answers our requests based on His willingness, not our worthiness.