No Set Pattern!

Mark 8:22-23- Then He came to Bethsaida; and they brought a blind man to Him, and begged Him to touch him. So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

In this blog I want to address one of my favorite topics: healing! There are so many people in the world today who are sick. Hospitals are overcrowded in some areas with people who are infected with the coronavirus. They need to be healed. Outside of that, there are people who have diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, arthritis, and a host of other things that have attacked their bodies, with and without their help. The wonderful news is that Jesus is still the Healer! Even when you go to a doctor and medicine is prescribed, or surgery is performed, ultimate healing is in His hand!

In our text a blind man is brought to Jesus and they beg Him to touch the man that He might be healed. Jesus leads the man out of town, and instead of touching Him, Jesus spits on his eyes! At this point, the average person would have lost their miracle. I may have been one of them, for when we think of people spitting, we don’t think of healing coming forth! And can I give a word of wisdom at this point, if you spit on someone, you had better know that you are being led by the Holy Spirit because it could be disastrous otherwise!

This is the first time that we encounter a blind person in Mark, but this isn’t the first and only blind person to received their sight from Jesus!

• In Matthew 9- two blind men cry out to Jesus for healing. Jesus asked them if they believed that He could heal them. They replied yes, and He touched their eyes and said “be it done to you according to your faith!”
• In Matthew 12- a demon possessed man was brought to Him who was both blind and mute. All we are told is that Jesus healed the man and he both saw and spoke!
• In Matthew 14-they brought the blind, the maimed, the deaf, the mute, and many others, and Jesus healed them. Again, we don’t know what His method was, but we know it was effective!
• In John 9- Jesus healed a man born blind, by spitting on the ground, making a paste and placing it on the man’s eyes. Then He told the man to go and wash in the pool Siloam.
• And later in Mark, Jesus heals Bartimaeus, after asking him what did he want for Him to do?

In all of these examples we see Jesus doing different things to bring healing to those who are physically blind. Some were touched, others He spoke to, another He told to go and wash the clay off his eyes, and at other times we don’t know what Jesus did. In our text for today, He spits on the man’s eyes. Unlike every other time in the bible, to my knowledge, this healing isn’t instantaneous. Not only that, but Jesus asks the man if he saw anything.

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

Mark 8:23 NKJV

What’s going on? Jesus has a perfect record of instant miracles, and yet He spits on this man’s eyes and then asks him if He sees anything! This is different!

And he looked up and said, “I see men like trees, walking.”

Mark 8:24 NKJv

Let me just say that this is a miracle! When was the last time you prayed for someone blind and they could see even a little bit better? The closest I have ever come to this scenario is when I prayed for someone who was losing their sight and God restored their sight. You better believe we gave Him some praise. So if this is all there was to the receiving of sight for this man, his eyes were much improved and it’s a miracle. But Jesus wasn’t finished!

Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly. 

Mark 8:25 NKJV

Jesus laid hands on His eyes one more time, and this time the man could see clearly. Glory be to God! He does all things well! Even in this scenario of what we point to as a gradual healing, it was pretty instant from my point of view. What I see in this demonstration of healing is something I have learned to do when ministering healing. You pray with expectation to see results, and you ask the person to do something they said they couldn’t do before. If it’s partial, pray again for completion.

On the flip side, I have prayed for people and nothing has changed. I have seen them leave without the manifestation of their healing. Sometimes, I will later get a report of healing, and sometimes they seek medical assistance and get their healing. The important thing is that they get healed. I’m not the healer, Jesus is the Healer. My job is to cooperate with Him in faith, not to think I am the healer!

I haven’t figured out why some people are healed and others are not. I have no answers as to why Sister So and So lived and Brother So and So died. I just know that I believe in divine healing more than I believe in the medical professionals. I trust Him to heal!

Many years ago, a dear friend passed away. We prayed faithfully for her. As a church we prayed weekly, but others of us prayed daily, along with her family. But she passed. I was really messed up. So I asked God about it. He gave me a dream.

In the dream I was on a battlefield similar to the pictures we see in the Civil War. Canons were being fired and gunshots were constant. People were falling to the ground. Some instantly died but others were crying out for help. I was a medic in the dream and I would run to assist someone who was calling, and the person died. As I was grieving, I would hear another cry for help. Then I would rush to another person, and give medical assistance, and have them sent to sick bay. And this happened for several minutes with several different people. Finally I heard His voice and He said something like this:

On a battlefield, there is no time to cry over those who perish. If you do, you will not be able to help those who still need you.

In all honesty, I never wanted to pray for the sick again. I was crushed. But after the dream, I knew I had a choice to make. I could sit around and wonder about why this happened, and why that didn’t happen. Or I could obey God and continue to pray for the sick and trust Him to heal! So I continue to pray and trust my Healer!

I don’t always know what He is going to do, or how He is going to do it! But I am learning that the way doesn’t matter, only the results! Trust Him today for your healing, because He is still Christ, the Healer! Wonderful Jesus!