Morning Moments

Desperation
[Mt 9:30] And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. [31] And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

I was over sixty years of age before I could see 20/20. When I was a young boy in the second grade I could not read the blackboard from the front seat. When it was discovered that I needed glasses, they were thick and for years as a child I was called “four eyes”. My vision was 20/600. It is amazing how cruel people are to those who are impaired in one way or another. But that’s life and we have to learn to live with it.

In our text are two blind men who though not able to see, HEARD. The new of this amazing healer had awakened hope in them and perhaps they had prayed to get to Him somehow. Consider:

The Earnest Request
How desperate they were! Someone had to help them in some way to get where they were going, to prepared food for them, and dozens of other things. We don’t know how long they had been blind or the cause of the blindness. All we know is that they were blind but were not content to stay that way. In verse 27 the record is that they heard that Jesus was near and cried out to Him for MERCY.

The request for mercy is a simple one that might be used by anyone in despair, but there was something different about this earnest request. In the first place, neither cried “Have mercy on ME”. Each realized the need of the other. They understood that despite they differences in many ways, the common need was for mercy. Our need is not for things, healings, etc. but for MERCY. That is where it all begins because mercy withholds from us what we rightfully deserve.

Honestly, what do you and I DESERVE from God? NOTHING! So the question remains, what do we DESIRE from Him? The answer should be clear and simple. It is mercy!

But there is something more in our text that is critical for our understanding. It is how they addressed Jesus: O Lord, thou son of David. They recognized something about Jesus that only a few really recognized – that He was the promised Messiah and the rightful heir to the throne of His father, David. They could not see what Jesus looked like. They had to be told that He was near. They had no idea that he could even heard them, but the cried out anyway and Jesus heard them.

When we cry out to Him it may disturb others as it did in this case but our cry of despair touches the ears and heart of Jesus. He does not deny the earnest request for mercy. Try it and see for yourself. The cry for mercy indicates that we are in a condition or situation we can do nothing about ourselves and we desperately need someone’s help to get out of what we are in. There is a wideness in God’s mercy and when we cry out, recognizing that He alone can help us, He will deliver what we desire – mercy.

BLESSINGS!