Bartimaeus

As He Died to Make Men Holy

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This past Sunday, we closed out the July 4th weekend with the classic songs, The Battle Hymn of the Republic and God Bless America. This weekend about 80% of our crowd came in from the memory care wing, and even though they don’t remember everything the way they once did, they do know all the words to these hymns. They sing with such joy that their voices give joy and hope to everyone who hears. They remind me of Bartimaeus who If there was anyone who should have given up hope, it would have been him. He was a blind beggar and, no one would have recommended this guy to be a motivational speaker on hope. First off, his hope of a career, a family and a comfortable lifestyle were unreachable in the society of his day. On top of that, he must have had neither friends nor family, so He simply sat alone by the side of the street begging. Yet despite all that was stacked against him, Bartimaeus had hope in one thing: the mercy of Jesus. He was sure that if he could get Jesus to listen, that there was still hope. So Bartimaeus began to shout out above the noise of the crowd, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Soon the unhelpful bunch of folks around Bartimaeus told him to shut up and sit down. “Have you met any of them lately? Maybe you hoped they would be the ones to help out, but instead, these were the ones telling you to give up. You’re too old, too young, too weak, too stupid, and on and on. Oh, they might even be a bit more kind than Bartimaeus’ buddies, but in essence they are thinking the same thing, “Why doesn’t this fellow just give it up. There is no hope for him!” But don’t throw up your hands and walk away. Our God is the God of ALL HOPE and just as Bartimaeus was about to discover, He hasn’t ignored your cry for help. Jesus is listening. Jesus is calling you and wants to fill you with all hope if you will simply throw off all your doubts and fears and come. He is waiting for you today!

When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 
Mark 10:47 NIV

Word Wednesday – Following Jesus

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When I encountered this verse today, I immediately remembered the song “Open Our Eyes Lord.” It was written in 1976 by Bob Cull, became one of the favorite worship songs of the 80’s and is still famously used as the intro to David Jeremiah’s teaching. But the question put before us this morning is more than even the one that Jesus asked Bartimaeus just before his healing, “What do you want me to do for you?” Today’s challenge is, “What would I do if God helped me to see Jesus right now?” – Would I worship and be thankful? Go home and sing His praises? Or would I do as Bartimaeus did and follow Jesus along the way?

Quiet Time or Prayer?

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Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Isaiah 12:6 KJV

It seems that everyone is insisting lately that we have a “Daily Quiet Time.” But with all the discussion about it, maybe we have gotten a little off track. For starters, the phrase quiet time doesn’t occur anywhere that I know of in the Bible. Of course Jesus spent plenty of time teaching about prayer, but the prayers we read about in the Gospels are not always private and very few of them were quiet. In fact if we prayed like Jesus prayed, our time would be far from quiet –  

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, … Hebrews 5:7

And King David did not have much to say about quiet prayer either.

This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

You could add to the list of these noisy prayers others; like Moses who was often crying out to the Lord because not a day went by without a problem, first in Egypt with Pharaoh, then in the wilderness with complaining Israelites. Elijah prayed loud enough for thousands to hear him on Mount Carmel and those loud prayers didn’t stop in the Old Testament. During Jesus’ ministry the Syro-Phoenician woman with a demon possessed daughter had the disciples begging Jesus to send her away because she was crying out too much. Then we all remember Blind Bartimaeus, whose friends kept insisting he sit down and shut up. But Jesus wasn’t disturbed at all by his noisy request. What impressed Jesus then and what impresses God today is when we believe in His ability and willingness to answer us so much that we cry out to Him from the bottom of our hearts. God values neither quietness nor loudness but when you and I need Him way too much to be quiet!