The 'Will' of God

Matthew 8:2 And, behold, a leper came and worshiped him, saying, Lord, if thou art willing, thou art able to cleanse me.

Mark 1:40 One day there came a leper to Jesus entreating Him, and pleading on his knees. "If you are willing," he said, "you are able to cleanse me."

Luke 5:12 And it came to pass, in his being in one of the cities, that lo, a man full of leprosy, and having seen Jesus, having fallen on his face, he besought him, saying, 'Sir, if thou mayest will, thou art able to cleanse me;'

This may have been the first instance where Jesus healed a leper -- it is recorded in three of the Gospels. The man had no doubt about Jesus' power and authority over the disease. He had full confidence that the answer to his dilemma was found in the Son of God.

The only question this person carried with him was whether Jesus would be willing to heal him. As a leper, it was ingrained in him culturally that he was "unclean" and that he would make others unclean by his presence. It was socially acceptable for children to throw sticks and rocks at him or to set dogs after him if he was drawing too near for comfort.

Many times we know that God is all-powerful, but we find ourselves questioning whether He is all-caring. Will He care about the problem I am facing? it is too small to bother God about, so I'll handle it myself. After all, it was my fault it happened, so I'm just reaping what I sowed. I'll tough it out and not say anything about it. I don't want to burden anyone with my petty issues.

We can live on the outskirts of Christian society, isolated in our belief of our "uncleanness," kept from the comfort and healing of the Spirit that He sends through His body to knit us together. Or by gathering the same courage that the first leper mustered to approach someone who demonstrates the love and the power and the accepting grace of God on earth, just as Jesus did, we can find both the willingness and the ability to go before the throne of God and find the answer to our problem from our all-caring and all-powerful Father.

1 John 5
v.14 Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
v.15 And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

Gracious Father, caring and capable, we thank You for Your provision for us. Thank You that for those things we just cannot manage on our own, You bring someone who will stand with us and give us Your grace in prayer, in encouragement, in listening, in accepting, in believing. It is not that we are lacking in faith or knowledge or trust in You, Father, but it is that You choose to move through Your people. Just as one hand cannot wash itself, so one person is gifted by Your Spirit to minister to another and thereby tighten the bonds of love between us, as we lay down our pride and accept Your gifts through Your ministering servants.

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