My Six-Year-Old’s Tenacity
My six-year-old, Maggie, has the tenacity of a bull. She gets something in her mind and goes after it with a singular focus that’s enough to weaken even the strongest adult. She’s worn me down more times than I can count, and I consider myself a fairly strong person. More than once, she’s gotten me to give in on something I really wasn’t planning to, much to my regret.
Consequently, my kids have realized her strength over the years, and more than once have sent her to be the negotiator to Matt and me when they want something.
The Tenacity of the Blind Men
I was reading in the book of Matthew this week in my morning time. I read a familiar story that made me think of my Maggie. It’s the story of two blind men who ask Jesus to heal them.
As Jesus was passing through an area, two blind men cry out to him. The crowd that is following Jesus looks at them with disdain and tries to quiet them. That wasn’t enough to stop these men. I wonder if they made a pact together ahead of time.
“Listen, when Jesus passes here, we’re going to get one shot at this. We have to get Jesus’ attention, no matter what it takes. It’s going to take both of us. We can’t give up, no matter what happens.”
When Jesus passes by, both men begin to call out, trying to get Jesus’ attention. The crowd tries to hush them, but that just makes them call out even louder. By this point, they are being obnoxious, causing a scene. But do they care? Nope. They cry out louder, “Master, have mercy on us.”
Jesus Hears Them
When Jesus stops and turns in their direction, I can picture the crowd pausing, holding its breath, waiting to see what is going to happen. The crowd parts and Jesus comes to stand before the two men.
Can you imagine what the two men are feeling now? They probably looked at each other in shock, like, “It really worked. He stopped.”
Jesus’ Response to Them
Jesus asks them, “What do you want from me?”
The two men don’t hesitate; they don’t think twice. They answer quickly and confidently. “We want to see.” These men knew what they wanted and went after it.
Don’t miss Jesus’ response to their request.
Deeply moved, Jesus touched their eyes. They had their sight back that very instant, and they joined the procession. Matthew 20:34 MSG
Jesus was moved by their faith and their boldness so much that He stopped what He was doing to respond to them. Clearly, their tenacity worked.
Jesus’ Humanity
Sometimes when we read the Bible, we miss the humanity of Jesus. Though He was fully God, He was also fully human. He understood feelings and emotions, and He was affected by them. It’s hard to balance Jesus’ sovereignty and deity with His humanity.
I wonder… would Jesus have stopped to heal them if they hadn’t called out? Would He have kept walking even after He heard them call out if they hadn’t increased their volume? I’m not sure. All I know is that two men believed Jesus could work on their behalf and they weren’t going to stop until He did.
How often do we approach Jesus this way? I wonder how many of our prayers don’t get answered because we don’t call out with absolute faith and tenacity, holding on to Jesus until we get an answer. This is what I call wrestling with God.
Wrestling with God
What does it mean to wrestle with God? Here is an excerpt from my book, The Hidden Pain:
What does it mean to wrestle with God? What does it feel like? It’s hard to describe. The only way to describe it is that I have spent many hours on my knees begging God for His blessing. I’ve cried many, many tears asking God why He won’t help things to work out in my life. I’ve questioned His goodness. I’ve wrestled with trusting Him. I have written countless prayers and cries to God in my journal. I have asked, pleaded, argued, and questioned God so often. I feel that after several years of begging God and pleading with Him for His blessing and not feeling like I have gained it, I just want to wrestle with Him more. I feel like I can begin to understand why Jacob wrestled with the angel all night long and wouldn’t let him go until the angel blessed him…
Are you in the same place? Can we encourage each other to hold on and keep wrestling? Jacob wrestled during the night until the morning light finally broke through. My morning hasn’t broken through yet. It’s still dark. I can’t see, but I can feel Jesus’ arms around me, and I am grabbing on to those arms and not letting go until He blesses me.
The Hidden Pain: When You Fear God Is No Longer Blessing Your Life
I think that wrestling with God is equivalent to what the two blind men did. They wouldn’t let Jesus pass until He heard them and answered them. After that, it was just a matter of telling Jesus what they wanted.
Wrestling with God in Your Own Life
What do you need to wrestle with God for in your life right now? What burden are you carrying that you are begging for an answer to? Maybe it’s a financial burden, a health concern, a difficult child, the loss of a friendship, a deep hurt… I don’t know what it is, but I know Someone who does.
Maybe it’s time for us to drop to our knees and call out to God. Maybe it’s time to reach out and get a hold of God and not let go until He answers. We need to develop the kind of tenacity these blind men had. We have to decide that it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. It doesn’t matter how anybody else responds to us. All that matters is getting Jesus’ attention.
That’s the kind of faith that moves Jesus. Jesus put it this way.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Matthew 7:7 KJV
Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. Matthew 7:7 MSG
When we want God to work more than we care about how we look or sound to others, that’s when we will know we are developing the tenacity to wrestle with God.
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