January 19 Devotion - Do not put God in a box

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth…  

Jesus spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. ⁷ And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam”.  So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Read: John 9:1 - 9

Jesus had healed people before by just touching them. So why did Jesus choose a new method? Why did Jesus spit and heal this blind man in this way? The difference between this man and the other blind man Jesus healed through touch is that this man had no eyes; Jesus created new eyes for him.

Spit and dirt (clay) mixed and put on the eyes, does not sound very nice. Do you agree?  The blind man could have reacted by saying something like ‘How dare you spit on me and make my eyes full of mud, I thought you were going to heal me, not make me worse’. But he didn’t, he totally trusted Jesus and went to wash.  I have learnt that Archeologists say that Siloam; where the blind man had to go and wash; is very big with wide steps on 3 sides, where you need more courage and braveness to go into it. But the blind man went and washed and could see.

Some of my lessons learnt:

v    I should never put Jesus in a box, for His ways are totally different than our ways. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. Isaiah 55

v    I need to Trust in the LORD with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding Proverbs 3:5 

v    What I want and pray for may not be what is best for me, or it may not be delivered in the fashion I am thinking about.

v    Jesus asked the man to do something, so we have a role to play in receiving the blessings, we have an active role.

v    The role the man had to do was not an easy one especially for a blind man. We may need to do something that does not make sense to us or be easy to do.

I invite you to repeat the following prayer for yourself:

Abba Father, thank You for Your abundant blessings in my life and thank You for Your deep, inseparable and everlasting love for me. Help me to ‘see’ Your ways and understand Your thoughts. Lord, give me wisdom to not lean on my own understanding and strengthen me to trust You and follow You with all my heart and all my mind, soul and strength. In the Holy Name of Jesus I pray. To Him be the glory, the power, the majesty and the dominion forever and ever and unto ages of all ages. Amen.

Jesus loves you,

In Him,

Wagdi Henein