From Chapter 23, “The Cry,” in Pause With Jesus: Encountering His Story in Everyday Life.
Each of my books emphasizes prayer. Sometimes those prayers are just getting to the point. Other times, when we have no specific words to voice, lingering in God’s presence and enjoying Him is fine. Letting Him speak to us is good. Listening and learning through various spiritual methods of communicating with Jesus are all good.
But sometimes we should just ask to see.
With reverence but without hesitation.
With desperation but without elaboration.
Jesus asked. Bartimaeus answered by asking to see.
Jesus then told the beggar to go. He did not give specific direction, saying, “Be on your way.”
Christ’s command included a benefit, “Your faith has healed you.”
What had happened? “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus down the road.”
What if Bartimaeus had remained in the rut of his begging, never venturing out in faith? What if the crowd’s objections had deterred him from pursuing Jesus with tenacity? What if he had stopped at any point along the way?
Are we afraid to cry out? Is it hard to admit utter helplessness? What obstacles deter our pursuit? Do memories of unanswered prayers in the past paralyze dreams in the present?
Pray.
Call out to God in desperation.
Beg and plead.
Intercede.
Those cries are fine. The Listening Doctor can choose to bless beggars like us on days like today.
The blog emphasizes the importance of prayer, including direct and indirect forms of communication with God. We should ask for what we need without hesitation, using the example of Bartimaeus asking Jesus for his sight. The blog encourages us to pursue our faith with determination. It also encourages us to continue praying and calling out to God, even in desperation, because God can bless beggars like us.
One of the hardest things I have found to accept is the lack of direction that God gives us. Oftentimes, or at least over the past 3 years of my life, I have felt that there is sometimes where there is a lack of insight into God’s plan for my life. I am only prevued to one step at a time and not any more than that. Which, as much as it is freeing in the context of this passage and being free to live in faith, is not all that helpful as I prepare to graduate this spring. Having to put trust in Christ is difficult, but as we see in this example, to be without sight of Christ at all is far worse.
I really do feel like sometimes the hardest thing to do is to reach out to God, even though it is the best thing we can do. Sometimes I really struggle with direction in my life and I try to work it out by myself, which obviously doesn’t work, but I’ve always been someone who has tried to figure it out on my own. I need to learn to be able to reach out to God, and reach out to others.
I have been really focusing on being more intentional with my prayer life. Prayer is something that is something that is such a beautiful amazing gift that I think can be taken advantage of so often. It is amazing to me that we can just cry out to the LORD, the creator of the world, anytime, in any place, with anything.
I think sometimes it is hard for me to ask for help because I don’t want to seem weak. But when I pray I know that God is listening and will not judge me for my struggles. Bwing honest in my relationship with God is super important to me because how it helps me to keep myself accountable and in check throughout my days.
Honestly, I think one of my biggest struggles is calling out to God because I never truly know if He is listening. In the last few months it has felt like I am literally just talking to myself. Just being brutally honest, I was struggling with a specific situation and I sat down in my car and just screamed “are you even listening” “do you even care” and as I was screaming that I just broke down in tears because I realized it was not God. I just wasn’t listening. He does not always answer how I want him to. Sometimes it is indirect and that is okay.
I enjoy how prayer is a cry out. It shows us that we can not do this life on our own. Crying out to the lord in desperation shows our faith and it emphasizes our minds to be trusting only on him. It is a huge deal. I love praying because the more I pray the more I see fruit in my life from my hands. It’s a big deal
I like this blogs focus on the importance of prayer as well as it’s focus on crying out to God when we need help. Just like the begger in the story if we do not make it known to God our struggles then he can not heal us. Prayer is an important part of a healthy daily ritual as it gives us the opportunity to sort out the striggles we are currently dealing with.
I enjoyed this blog and the importance of crying out to God when in need. I find it easier to pray and thank God, but my prayers have been very surface-level. This is because I have been afraid to be vulnerable with God because I don’t want him to know how I feel about certain things. The only thing that this does for me is making it worse because all God wants to do is help me. I am only hurting myself. God wants to help. I pray that I can be more vulnerable and let him help.
For someone who grew up as a hard headed child, it is hard for me to cry out for help. Above being extremely independent, not wanting to be a burden to people is a huge reason that leads to me not crying out for help. But if I get beyond myself and unashamedly cry out, who knows what miracle God will perform. Sometimes it’s better to cry for help than to regret not even trying. Psalms 56:8 tells us that God sees our tears and keeps them. The moments of crying, the tears shed behind closed doors are not in vain.