According to your faith...

You know how you're reading along, a passage you have read so many times, yet something hits you in a fresh way... words that you should be able to quote with your eyes closed (key word being SHOULD), but something about it causes a pause and you reread... and reread... well, that happened to me in the book of Matthew, chapter 9. Four little verses portray an encounter with Jesus. 

Two blind men were following Jesus as he walked through the city, crying out for mercy...  they refused to be deterred, and continued to follow Him right inside someone's house! It's my assumption, that since they could not see, that they must have stayed with the crowd that likely grew as the day went on...  It was quite a day - it started with Jesus healing a paralyzed man... then He called Matthew to follow Him and to be His disciple and Matthew immediately left and joined the crowd following Jesus... then Jesus had 'lunch' but no rest, as people were still flocking to him... the Pharisees got all uppity seeing Jesus eating with common men and women, so Jesus took time to put them in their place... THEN Jesus gets confronted by John's disciples and has to settle their concerns about fasting... as this was happening, a Ruler comes begging Jesus to come heal his daughter because she is dying... Jesus, full of compassion, gets up and heads to the Ruler's house with his disciples, and yes... with the masses following Him. In this throng of people, one lady who was desperate, but believing that Jesus could heal her, got close enough and touched the hem of his cloak... and yes - she was healed and she even got to speak with Jesus for a moment... so many people desiring to have their needs met by this Man. Miracles didn't stop there - Jesus goes into the Ruler's house and raises up the man's daughter and people are in awe. 

 It's at this point we get back to our two blind men... Jesus leaves the house, and the dear men follow Him... crying for Mercy...  why didn't Jesus stop immediately? I don't know - maybe he wanted to see how persistent these two were... to see how much they REALLY wanted help from Him... well, they marched right up behind him into someone's house and there, Jesus stops and turns to them.  "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"  Oh how many times does the God of Heaven whisper that into our soul... "Do you really believe I am able?" Their answer must have delighted the Son of God. "Yes Lord!" The acknowledged who He was... and then Jesus touched their eyes saying, "It shall be done to you according to your faith." 

So here - at this critical time in their lives, their faith was being called into play... I feel quite sure that if they didn't truly believe Jesus could give them sight, they would have walked away without their sight. Still blind. "According to your faith, it will be done to you..." The good news is, they DID believe Jesus could heal them - each of them had faith that they would walk away from this Man seeing the world through new eyes.  And they did! Praise God!

This is what challenged me...  how many times do I walk away without a blessing God is ready and willing to give me because my faith is too small... He is there saying, "According to your faith, it will be done..."  Like the apostles, my heart cries out "Lord, please Increase my faith!"