Jesus Revealed Pt. 9 - Exposed!預覽

Confession of the healed man Pt. 2  

Thoughts on the Passage

It is very easy to see – and yet not see.

This happens when we do not see what we want to see – and so chose not to believe it. The religious leaders had already decided that Jesus was a fraud and looked for ways to convince themselves that everything Jesus did was a fake – or the result of a demon, or whatever. Jesus healed on the Sabbath day – the day God told everyone to rest. So if Jesus healed on the Sabbath, He was working and thus breaking God’s Sabbath law; He was obviously not from God and doing the work of God. Everything Jesus did should be either given another explanation or rejected as the work of something other than God.

This man, however, sees Jesus differently. He knows. He was blind from birth – no one can heal a man born blind. He knows that Jesus is the one who put mud on his eyes, told him to wash in the pool, and that he received his sight as a result of Jesus and His work. He also knows that God does not do miracles through evil people – only those who listen and obey the voice of God. This man does not worry that the religious leaders cannot see this truth. He just knows.

The religious leaders have a way of dealing with people like this. They kick him out! They call him names; they mock his physical heritage (born blind); they call him a sinner (they had a believe that this evil came upon him because of sin); they reject rather than examine.

Many people today – even people in the Church – do the same thing.
How do we avoid this? First, we have to know what God does. If we limit God to what we think He should do, then we will make these mistakes. Second, when God does something outside of our comfort zone (what we think He should do), then we evaluate it from the Word of God. Often, these kinds of miracles test our criteria! Third, it is easy to just ignore or reject what we see rather than examine it. It takes a person willing to listen to the Spirit of God, evaluate what we see by the Word of God and other godly people, and change…

Application

Yesterday, I heard something from someone – it was not what I expected God to do. It is not something that I understood about God. I have a choice. I can reject it as the result of someone misunderstanding how God works or I can choose to evaluate it by the Word of God.

Today, ask God to expose our hearts to such a situation. Ask God to heal someone today – that you or I do not think should receive it. Watch God release blessing on someone we think should not receive it – and watch our response. Watch God release the blessing we wanted for ourselves but He chooses to give it to someone else.

How do we respond?

Time to Pray

Father, today is a great day. I have expectations that You will do something that changes and turns my world upside down. It may be for me, but it may be for others also. I just want to see Your hand release a blessing that brings glory to Your name, and that exposes the hearts of men. It may even expose my heart. I am okay with that. I just want to see today – just like this man who was blind. He saw and he knew. That is my prayer as well. In Jesus’ name, Amen.