“When [Jesus] came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.’ And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I will; be clean.’ And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” [1]
Even as I speak, someone hearing my voice is silently crying out in her heart, “Lord, I need You to touch me!” Seated among us is a man who this day is crying out in his pain in the depths of his heart, “Lord, I need You to touch me!” Perhaps the problem that now drives you to cry out in your desperate silence is pain, or the prospect of pain, arising from a health problem. The fear of the unknown is palpable. You don’t really want to let your mind go where it seems to keep turning. You have told no one what you are experiencing, but the problem persists. The pain and discomfort intrudes into your thoughts throughout the day, never giving you rest, always nagging at your mind. You recognise this current physical problem may be a threat to your life, and because this is so you’ve consulted the doctor, only to have the doctor give you the “northern treatment.” Despite the murmured words of compassion, and perhaps despite the best efforts of the physician, the problem persists—the threat continues hanging over your future. Now, you have no option except to cry out to Jesus for mercy. So, even as you sit in this service, you find yourself crying out to Jesus, “I need You to touch me!”
It is certainly possible that the problem dogging your days, dragging you down into the slough of despair is a financial burden that weighs down your mind. You certainly had no intention of getting into this financial hole, but the debts have piled up and you don’t have the ability to repay what is owed even though you are getting more hours at work. You feel as if the debt continues to grow with each passing month, though you are paying all you can week-by-week. The press of debt is crushing, and the constant demands leave you mentally exhausted. The threat of financial ruin is stealing what little joy you once had. You don’t know how you will ever be able to provide for the necessities required to maintain your family or how you will ever get the creditors off your back. The phone calls and the Emails reminding you that you must pay serve only to drain what little energy remains. The worry you are experiencing overwhelms you and has begun even to intrude into your relationship with those you love. Now, you have no option except to cry out to Jesus for mercy, pleading, “Lord, I need You to touch me!”
The problem you are facing may be more subtle than what I’ve described, but it is no less worrisome for you. There is a strain on your relationship with a loved one, or perhaps a cloud hangs over your friendship with someone with whom you have been close for years. The warm interactions you previously enjoyed have become heated; or worse still, they have grown cold. You’ve wept an ocean of tears in the dark nights until there are no more tears to cry. You have tried to repair the damage, but frankly, you have exhausted yourself in your repeated attempts to repair the breach. Now, you have no option except to cry out to Jesus for mercy, “Lord, I need You to touch me!”
You do have one great consolation as a twice-born child of God. Because you are known by the Father, you can be assured that the Lord does hear your cry and that He will give you an answer according to His divine wisdom. Whatever else may be true, the Son of God, Jesus our Saviour, will touch the soul that is wounded. He will reach out to the desperate child who is born from above. He will console the one who grieves. Our Lord will not turn you away in your hour of sorrow—of that you can be certain.
We have in the Gospel accounts one story that pictures someone who had reached the end of the road. The man in question had nowhere else to turn. It is not unreasonable to conclude that everyone who came to Jesus had reached their limit, but in this one instance the individual sought out the Master, pleading for His divine intervention because there was nowhere else the man could turn. In desperation this man came to Jesus, and the Master did not disappoint when the man cried out for help.
Studying what took place, and especially thinking of the man who needed help, I suggest will provide us with encouragement in our time of desperation. We need encouragement to find help in our time of need, and the pericope before us in this hour provides just such encouragement. I invite you, especially if you are one desperately crying out to the Lord in your need, to join me in studying the account Matthew provides that details a leper who came to Jesus and what Jesus did when He was approached.
YOU MUST BE BROKEN — The account begins by informing the reader, “A leper came to [Jesus] and knelt before him” [MATTHEW 8:2a]. This leper knew he needed help, and in desperation he turned to Jesus. Tragically, few of us will come to the Master seeking His help if we are not convinced that we need His help. Prayer is often a neglected discipline until the threat we face has at last grown critical and His intervention is urgently required. We can manage on our own, seems to be the reasoning we generally adopt, until the press of reality forces us to seek Christ’s help. It is only when our efforts finally prove futile and the possibility of relief has at last been revealed to be out of reach that we are willing to turn to Him for the DIVINE relief that we need and which only He can give.
The tragedy is that we may be broken, utterly destitute, without hope of ever finding relief, and we will still attempt to resolve the issue confronting us through our own efforts. Many of us will be like a woman who sought healing. You will recall how Mark describes her desperation when he writes, “There was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse” [MARK 5:25-26]. Her situation was critical, even desperate. She suffered from chronic bleeding. We might speculate that she had a persistent vaginal discharge. [2] And that was serious.
Women were already seen as being on the lower rungs of social status in that day. Additionally, we must remember that the Law allowed no latitude in the business of menstrual bleeding. “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening” [LEVITICUS 15:19-22]. So already, this woman was ritually unclean, and had been unclean for twelve years!
Worse yet, her very presence in the crowd threatened all present with contamination from her ritual impurity. Let’s continue reading in the Levitical Law. “Whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean” [LEVITICUS 15:23-24]. Are you beginning to get the sense of desperation the woman must have felt? Let me explain yet further as we read just a bit more of what is written in the Law.
“If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening” [LEVITICUS 15:25-27].
Not only was this woman ceremonially unclean, but she had also impoverished herself by consulting multiple physicians. They had practised medicine on her, taking all the moneys she had in the process. She was socially devastated, and this was not through any evil she had committed! When the physicians proved incapable of helping her, any prospect for renewed social intercourse had dropped to nil for her.
After twelve years of social isolation, the woman was desperate. How desperate? She was willing to risk being rebuffed by the throng pressing against Jesus. Mark describes “a great crowd” following Jesus and thronging about Him [see MARK 5:24]. Luke says “the people pressed around [Jesus]” [see LUKE 8:42]. Let me provide some insight into how crowded things were. The Greek word translated “pressed around” in LUKE 8:42, is the word Jesus used in MATTHEW 13:22 when He spoke of the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choking the Word. These are the only two times this word is used in the New Testament, though cognates are used elsewhere. We are left to understand that the crowd was so dense that Jesus could move only with difficulty.
Think about her situation that day. If she goes into the crowd, she will surely infect others with her impurity. If she touches the fringe of Jesus’ garment, she will pass her uncleanness on to Him. Not only will she contaminate Jesus, but remember that Jesus is walking in the presence of a synagogue ruler [see LUKE 8:41-42]. And yet, this woman sees the throng as presenting the only opportunity she may ever have of being restored to society. Only her desperation could compel her to risk being rebuffed by the crowd. Only desperation could lead her to cross the border of legitimate behaviour to gain access to the One Person who might deliver her from her desperate plight.
Now here is the point of stressing this woman’s desperation: she didn’t ask Jesus for relief! It seems incredible to us who live in comparative freedom where women can speak to men seeking help that she didn’t simply ask for relief. However, we are told that rather than asking, she sought to devise a means that would relieve her distress through her own efforts. Effectively, she attempted to manipulate Jesus by crawling through the crowd in hopes that merely touching the fringe of His garment would get her the healing she longed for and which she so desperately needed.
Don’t we do the same thing? We attempt to bargain with the Lord in hopes that we can obtain what we so desperately need. In doing this, we can put off asking, we can put off exercising faith, we can exchange the immediate for a nebulous tomorrow! The problem that had driven the woman to resort to a desperate ploy was immediately resolved. But she was not healed!
Scope in on Mark’s account of what happened after she managed to complete her effort to touch Jesus’ clothing. “Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my garments?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, “Who touched me?”’ And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease’” [MARK 5:30-34].
This woman believed, but she believed in her efforts to gain what she required! Jesus was incidental to her scheme to get what she needed. Jesus said her faith in her efforts had made her well, but having been exposed and thus compelled to come before Jesus openly meant that she was healed. The implication was that her efforts had indeed resolved the immediate problem, but in confessing her need to the Master would lead to her permanent deliverance. What are you seeking? Immediate relief? Or permanent deliverance? To receive permanence will require you to come to Jesus!
The situation for the man in our text was more desperate still. While the woman was ceremonially unclean, the man was seen as both ceremonially unclean and an actual danger to the eternal welfare of any who came near to him. The man was a leper, which meant that he was an outcast condemned to live on the fringes of society until the day he would die. There was less than scant prospect that he would ever be healed of his condition. Healing from this hideous condition was unknown, and the one suffering the appalling malady would be progressively driven toward despair and ruin.
The Law demanded that lepers were to be isolated, segregated from all others. Society imposed the demands of the Law, doing so with a vengeance. Lepers might even be violently pushed out of sight. Day after dreary day the sufferer would be forced to live apart from everyone, never hearing a soothing voice whisper that he was loved and never feeling the gentle touch of a loving hand to cool a fevered brow. Whenever the leper would become aware of someone approaching the place he stood, he was required to lift a piece of soiled cloth to his mouth and cry out, “Unclean! Unclean!” so others would not accidentally contaminate themselves by coming near. It was on him to warn everyone away from his presence. And at last, the leper would die, unloved, unmourned, his body treated as though it was but a piece of contaminated garbage, for he had long since become dangerous garbage in the sight of everyone within that ancient society.
Notice that this man came to Jesus! He seemed intuitively to realise that his only hope for deliverance would be to come right up to Jesus. There could be no stratagem that would permit him to sneak through a crowd, not even resorting to crawling. He would be instantly exposed as a leper. And he would not be merely rebuffed; he would risk being beaten and possibly even killed. If there was any hope for this man, it would be to cast himself openly upon what he hoped would be the mercy of Jesus. Thus, he “came to Jesus and knelt before Him” [MATTHEW 8:2a]. And that is what you will need to do if you will have an answer to your need.
Are you sufficiently broken to come to the Lord openly to plead your case before Him? Or are you still trying to plead with him in secret? Is your attempt to maintain secrecy evidence that your pride is greater than you need for relief? Do you refuse to openly confess your need, seeking Christ’s intervention, because your pride is greater than you need? I fear there will be no relief until your desperation has broken you.
Some day, we will see people desperate for God to intervene in their lives. And these precious souls will not care what others think, they will openly cry out to Christ for His mercy. When we witness that, we will marvel and wonder what has kept us from crying out openly, pleading for Him to do what He alone can do. When this happens, and it shall surely happen, we will call it “revival,” because we will have returned to the original condition that should have marked our relationship to the Lord Christ.
YOU MUST BELIEVE — “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean” [MATTHEW 8:2b]. The response of the Master to the leper is revealing, for we witness Jesus responding to the leper’s plea, “I will; be clean.” We cry out, demanding the answer we want, but this man approached the Master with a request, “Lord, if you will!” And soon after asking, he heard the Master’s soothing words, “I will.” This same Jesus will answer you, when you cry out to Him, asking for relief. The compassion that marked Him all the days of His ministry throughout the pages of the Gospels is the same compassion Jesus shows to all who seek His relief in this day! But don’t imagine that you can demand!
We often pray for another, perhaps pleading for a child, or perhaps seeking God’s intervention for a friend. We know the need and we say a prayer. However, too often we know that we are saying a prayer and not quite connecting with our Saviour. We were invited to share in something exciting and memorable when someone asked us to pray. They momentarily opened themselves to ridicule and humiliation, trusting us that we would not hurt them, and that we would treat them with compassion by sharing their burden just as we are taught in Scripture.
Applying this admonition to our life as a Body of the Lord, we are doing nothing other than making a practical application of Scripture. Remember how we are taught, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” [1 CORINTHIANS 12:21-27].
Baring our souls before the Lord, shamelessly revealing our deepest need demonstrates that we trust those with whom we share worship. When someone confesses her greatest fear, pleading with the Lord for relief, and she does so openly, this is nothing other than a plea to apply the instruction we have received when the Apostle wrote, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” [ROMANS 12:15].
Two sisters watched as their brother became ill, and despite their concern, his condition grew ever more serious. They sent word to the Master, pleading, “Lord, he whom you love is ill” [JOHN 11:3]. You who are familiar with the story will know that Jesus delayed rushing to the sisters and their brother.
When Jesus at last arrived in Bethany, He learned that Lazarus had died four days before. Martha, learning the Jesus had at last arrived, rushed away from the funerary activities to be in the presence of the Master. Coming before Jesus, the pain and the grief of this dear woman gushed forth as she said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” [JOHN 11:21-22].
Jesus calmly assured her, “Your brother will rise again” [JOHN 11:23], to which this sorrow pierced woman responded as she looked forward to a day that is seem only by faith, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day” [JOHN 11:24].
Jesus affirmed her faith, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this” [JOHN 11:25-26]?
Martha answered Jesus’ query, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” [JOHN 11:27]. And her faith in the Son of God would eventuate in seeing her brother raised from the tomb.
When Jesus had given sight to a man who had been born blind, that man was adamant in the face of pressure to speak ill of Jesus. And his refusal to condemn Jesus resulted in the religious leaders kicking him out of the synagogue. We read in the Word, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man’” [JOHN 9:35]?
Having never seen Jesus, the man could only respond with apparent curiosity, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him” [JOHN 9:36]?
Jesus revealed Himself, saying, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you” [JOHN 9:37].
With that, the man responded, “Lord, I believe,” before worshipping the Son of God [see JOHN 9:38]. And seeing the Son of Man with the eye of faith would mean that the man who had been blind from birth would now be permitted to see the world with physical eyes until the day he would be received into the presence of the Risen Saviour.
Nathanael questioned whether anything good could come out of Nazareth, but he nevertheless allowed himself to follow Philip to meet Jesus. And as he came near, Jesus spoke, saying, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit” [JOHN 1:47]! Well, that got his attention! “How do you know me?” he asked. And Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” [JOHN 1:48]. Astonished, Nathanael blurted out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel” [JOHN 1:49]! You will no doubt recall the rest of that incident as Jesus again speaks, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these” [JOHN 1:50]. Believing Jesus would lead to Nathanael seeing “heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man” [JOHN 1:51].
On one occasion, two men who were blind heard that Jesus was passing nearby. They began to cry aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David” [MATTHEW 9:27]. While there is no indication that Jesus heard them, they nevertheless followed Him into the house he entered. These two blind men then came to Jesus, and He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” These two men simply responded, “Yes, Lord” [MATTHEW 9:28]. The divine account informs us, “Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you’” [MATTHEW 9:29].
There is a time when each of us needs to get serious with our God. We are always under assault from the prince or darkness. It remains true that the devil wants to kill you because you are a Christian. You must never forget Jesus’ statement concerning the work the evil one performs. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” [JOHN 10:10a]. The plea for relief that is offered up to the Lord God demonstrates that one is serious with God, that the one praying knows from whence his relief comes. The soul who openly seeks God’s intervention has recognised that no answer will be given without believing the Lord both hears and answers. Inviting others within the assembly to join you makes your request neither stronger nor does your invitation for others to join you make the plea more valid, but it does reveal that you are not allowing pride to keep you from the Christ. You are openly confessing your need for His mercy and admitting that you have no answer for the issue you are facing.
I am compelled to caution you that no one must imagine that what I have said is encouragement for any who hear the message this day to engage in what I identify as spiritual nudity. We must not bombard the ears of the faithful with trivial pleas. Nevertheless, when there is no other recourse except an open plea to the Master, may God encourage each of us to cast aside our pride to confess our dependence on Him. May our Lord Himself give us wisdom to know the difference between the trivial and the necessary. And may each of us who hear these pleas enter into the noble service of pleading on behalf of our brothers and sisters, our fellow saints, before God’s throne.
We have an example of precisely such serious pleading provided in an incident that is recorded in Mark’s Gospel. Listen as I read the account that Mark has provided. “When [Jesus, together with Peter, James, and John] came [off the mountain] to the [other] disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, ‘What are you arguing about with them?’ And someone from the crowd answered him, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And he answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘“If you can!” All things are possible for one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief’” [MARK 9:14-24]!
Here is desperation. The condition has persisted for some time, and it is serious, threatening the life of this man’s child. He brought the child to the disciples in hopes that they could do something to deliver the child. However, they were powerless. Not every need will immediately yield to your pleas. Not every request offered before the throne of God will be answered quickly. There are reasons why this is so, but we seldom know the reasons for the ineffectiveness of our pleas. In this case, Jesus indicated that prayer must be combined with fasting. Many older manuscripts state that fasting must be combined with prayer if one is to see the power of God exercised.
Allow me to take a moment to emphasise a point requiring some attention. I’m quoting from the footnote included in the Second Edition of the NET Bible, a translation I frequently consult. “Most witnesses, even early and excellent ones … have “and fasting” (?a? ??ste??, kai nesteia) after “prayer” here. But this seems to be a motivated reading, due to the early church’s emphasis on fasting … That the most important witnesses…, as well as a few others…, lack ?a? ??ste??, when a good reason for the omission is difficult to find, argues strongly for the shorter reading.” [3]
While translators, respected scholars have chosen to omit this, it is not so apparent to me that the concept of fasting should be omitted. What is obvious is that some instances require diligence, commitment to hard prayer, if you will prevail over the evil we sometimes confront. I will refer you to the words of Jesus recorded in Luke’s Gospel. “[Jesus] told [the disciples] a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” [LUKE 18:1]. Faith must not be timid, for faith always gives a double knock at heaven’s door, refusing to quit before the Lord has given His answer.
Isn’t this what we are taught when we witness Jesus saying, And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything?’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” [LUKE 11:5-13]!
When the need is greatest is the time for us to become the most persistent in pleading for divine intervention. Not every disappointment is a crisis, but when a genuine crisis arises that threatens our life, or threatens our welfare, or threatens our relationship with the Lord Jesus, we need to cry out to God. It is a good plan for the child of God to maintain speaking terms with the Lord Christ, because we never know when that crisis will arise.
YOU MUST BE WILLING TO BREAK THE RULES — “Jesus stretched out his hand and touched [the leper]” [MATTHEW 8:3]. I doubt that we are able even to imagine what a violation of the rules of religion it was for Jesus to touch a leper. Nor can we imagine how great a violation of the rules of religion it was for this leper to even approach someone who was not a leper. And this leper came right up to Jesus, kneeling in front of the Master! We can imagine that he moved with deliberate intention when he recognised who Jesus was.
However, lepers were to be isolated, shunned, kept at a distance lest their very presence contaminate others. The Law was specific about leprosy. “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean’” [LEVITICUS 13:45].
This man intuitively understood that Jesus was his last hope. If he was to be set free from the prison defined by marred skin and isolation from all mankind, it would be necessary for him to violate the Law to get near enough to Jesus to be heard. He broke the rules, and as result, Jesus touched him. When will you break the rules and come near to Jesus? Aren’t you tired of trying to resolve the conflict in your family through your own efforts? Isn’t it time to quit trying to find the answer to the financial pressure that steals your joy and robs you of sleep? While we are grateful for modern medicine, isn’t it time for you to consult the Great Physician?
When times are tight and you are unable to care for your family as you ought, either you can seek the provision God gives, or you can pray, “Our father in Ottawa, give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus didn’t teach us to pray in that fashion; He taught us to ask “Our Father in heaven” to ‘Give us this day our daily bread” [see MATTHEW 6:9-13]. Recall the testimony of David,
“The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the LORD upholds his hand.
“I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing.”
[PSALM 37:23-26]
When you are wearied from the daily grind that erodes your joy, lift your voice to confess as did David when he prayed,
“I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
“Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my plea;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.”
[PSALM 6:6-10]
When the enemy comes in like a flood and threatens to overwhelm you, learn to pray according to the prayer of the Psalmist when he cried,
“Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
that is higher than I,
for you have been my refuge,
a strong tower against the enemy.”
[PSALM 61:1-3]
When all strength is gone and you feel as if you will shortly be forced to lower the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit weighs heavy in your hand, you know God will rescue you because He loves you. Isaiah saw this when he wrote of a dark time in the life of Israel. The words are meant to encourage the faint-hearted and to lend strength to the one who is losing hope.
“Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands far away;
for truth has stumbled in the public squares,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
“The LORD saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no one to intercede;
then his own arm brought him salvation,
and his righteousness upheld him.
He put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and a helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,
and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.
According to their deeds, so will he repay,
wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
to the coastlands he will render repayment.
So they shall fear the name of the LORD from the west,
and his glory from the rising of the sun;
for he will come like a rushing stream,
which the wind of the LORD drives.”
[ISAIAH 59:14-19]
When I am all alone because my dearest friends have turned away from me, I need to remember the prayer that David offered up to Heaven, a prayer that is a cry from the depths to God Who alone is able to rescue you.
“Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud;
be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, ‘Seek my face.’
My heart says to you,
‘Your face, LORD, do I seek.’
Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation!
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
but the LORD will take me in.”
[PSALM 27:7-10]
I’m speaking today to someone who needs to break the religious rules. You’ve depended on your own goodness, and you know it will never be enough to make you right with God. You thought the ordinances of the church could purify your soul, and you now know the bread and the wine, and even the waters of baptism can never cleanse your soul. Now, the need for relief for your poor, wearied soul has become so great that you have nowhere to turn if you don’t look to the Living God Who is your Creator. The situation has become critical, and somehow the Spirit of Christ speaks to your soul even at this moment. The Spirit of God calls you to look to Him, to cry out in faith because in Him alone do you have hope, however faintly it glows. You know that God alone will do what must be done to deliver you from condemnation and bring you into His Kingdom of Light. Will you call on Him now?
And what of you who are driven far from the Lord because your sins weigh you down? Isn’t it time that you look to Christ to receive the freedom promised in Him? Haven’t you heard the gracious call,
“Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.”
[ISAIAH 45:22]
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” [ACTS 16:31], is the promise of God, and it is your promise if you will receive it. Do it now. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] See, e.g. Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mark; An Introduction and Commentary (Inter-Varsity Press, London 2017) 124-5
[3] Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible, Second Edition (Thomas Nelson, Denmark 2019)
