Jesus and Our Desires

“What do you you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. Mark 10:51

As Jesus and his disciples are leaving Jericho, a blind man named Bartimaeus shouts for Jesus to help him. He does not relent despite the crowds hushing him. Even more, he calls out to Jesus for mercy. Jesus stops and calls for him. The very people who’d shushed him must have led him before the Lord. He cannot see Jesus. I imagine him standing there awkwardly and in expectation of a miracle. Then comes the question that stills my heart. “What do you want me to do for you?” Bart wants to see. Because of Jesus’s power and Bart’s faith, his eyes are opened! His first sight…his Savior, full of joy and compassion and power! A Bible study leader asked us a few years back to close our eyes and imagine Jesus looking down at us, cupping our chin in his hands and asking this very same question: What do you want me to do for you? My instant response was healing for my dad who’s battled Multiple Sclerosis for 26 years. Then my heart ached as I imagined Jesus still gazing at me. My dad is still sick, despite decades of prayers. My second response: Jesus, I want your comfort, your peace, your healing of this ache that lumps in my throat, and for the ability to trust you when I don’t like your response. I wish it were always as simple as it was in Mark 10, but Jesus continues to meet me in my heart ache. How would you answer Jesus today if he lifted your chin to his eyes and asked you to share your biggest desire? Sometimes the process of the conversation reveals the depths of our heart’s needs.

Jesus, thank you for knowing our hearts, for knowing what we need, and yet asking us anyway. Lord, we pray that you’d help us to stand before you honestly and ask for our deepest desire. Guide us in our response to your answer. Thank you that you pour out compassion on us. Thank you for meeting us in this place of vulnerable need. Increase our faith to believe you as Bartimaeus did.