Our Devotional today is about Jesus healing a blind man.
We begin today with a reading of Mark 8:22-26
[22] When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. [23] So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then He spit on the man’s eyes and placed His hands on him. “Can you see anything?” He asked.
[24] The man looked up and said, “I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around.”
[25] Once again Jesus placed His hands on the man’s eyes, and when he opened them his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. [26] Jesus sent him home and said, “Do not go back into the village.”
From today’s reading there are three great lessons:
1. Jesus can help us in ways we do not expect.
He placed his hands on the blind man’s eyes and asked, “Can you see anything?” When the man said that he could not see clearly, Jesus touched him a second time.
Seeing this I wondered why Jesus needed to touch him twice. Did he fail with his first touch? The answer is no, he didn’t fail. Jesus chose a different way to heal that we might not have expected. Jesus The second touching was a part of the process he chose. With the second touch Jesus was demonstrating that He could heal any way he wanted. We should never box God in. Ask what we want and leave it to God to decide the how.
2. Jesus meets us where we are.
In verses 22 and 23, the blind man came to Jesus, not Jesus going to him. Jesus led the blind man out of the village, showing that He is willing to meet us in our unique circumstances and walk with us through the healing process.
3. Healing can be a gradual process.
Sometimes, we expect God to work on our time schedule and in the ways we expect. The blind man’s sight was not restored instantly; similarly, our spiritual growth and healing may occur in stages as we continue to seek Jesus.
This story is more than just about a blind man who was made to see; it is the story of how Jesus can help us in ways we might never expect.
Lonnie Davis