Impossible Prayers: What Do You Want?

Recently, the pastor at my church preached a series entitled, “Questions Jesus Asked.” He based one of his sermons on the story from Mark 10:46-51 where Jesus asked Bartimaeus, the blind man, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

Pastor Jesse observed that the answer was obvious: “I want to see.” Of course! Wasn’t that what any blind person would want most?

I don’t know. I dislike disagreeing with Pastor Jesse, but as a lifelong visually impaired person and a wannabe fiction writer, I’m not sure this would always be the first response. If the man was born blind, blindness was the only life he knew. And who ever heard of any blind person receiving sight, especially as an adult, particularly in a century bereft of modern technology? It sound too big, too presumptuous, too. . . impossible. The kind of requests a child would make: “I know you might say no but, hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

Like what?

Bartimaeus could have thought of more everyday needs—possible, but still out of reach:

• A steady income so he wouldn’t have to make a living by begging.
• A new house
• A new walking stick
• Friends and family to look after him.
• Jesus to act as an advocate to get the government or synagogue leaders to take better care of him.

He could have played it safe. Low risk requests.

But Bartimaeus asked for none of those things. He told Jesus, “I want to see.”

Why was it an act of faith for him to ask for his eyesight?

Bartimaeus was confident that Jesus had the power, knowledge and authority to restore sight. His faith, Jesus said, made him well.

That so easily slips off our tongues. But let’s unpack that “faith made him well” statement. What did he have faith in?

He called Jesus the “Son of David (v. 47),” a term the common people throughout the Gospels used to describe Jesus as the descendent of King David prophesied to come. That amazes me. This blind man was probably uneducated, yet he knew the term that would identify Jesus as the Messiah. He was willing to publicly take his stand about divine identify of Jesus.

He asked Jesus, “have mercy on me.” Mercy is giving someone what they don’t deserve. His request reminds me of the Roman centurion who, in asking Jesus to heal his servant, admitted he didn’t deserve to have Jesus come under his roof but he knew that with one word, long distance, Jesus could heal. By humbly asking for mercy, the blind man showed he understood who he was in relationship to this person he wanted to meet.

He said, “I want to see.” He audaciously shared in front of an impatient crowd what he wanted most. It wasn’t merely risky. He wasn’t just asking for too much. It was something impossible for any human to do. Even today, no human can instantly restore sight to someone who has been blind for decades. My surgery that I tell about in my book, With Fresh Eyes? One eye. My sight more than doubled but it’s a long way from 20/20. And, as an issue proved five years after my Better Than Ever surgery, I still have a packed medical record of eye issues.

Bartimaeus asked for the impossible. An impossible that only Jesus, as the divine Son of God, could do.

What impossible thing would you like to ask God for?

Pastor Jesse concluded his sermon with this thought. Jesus’ question to Bartimaeus is one He asks of anyone seeking Him. “What do you want Me to do for you?”

So let me ask you that question. What do you want God to do for you?

Would you like to have Bartimaeus level faith to answer with an impossible request?

Here’s the kind of faith you and I need. If we believe down to the depths of our souls that Jesus is God and that God is capable of doing anything, we will have the confidence to ask for anything, even if it sounds impossible to our ears.

So my friends, take a few moments to answer. Before you say what you want, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you believe Jesus the man is really the Son of God?
• Do you recognize that He is God and you are not, that His mercy compels Him to make available to you all kinds of things you don’t deserve?
• Are you confident that, as the Son of God who has mercy for you, He can do anything, even the impossible?

Here is the next big question:

How much risk are you willing to take in what you ask Him to do?

Don’t be vague. Refuse to play it safe. Avoid wording your request like a fortune cookie fortune that is so general, there’s a 95% chance it will come to pass. Have the faith to ask for the impossible–something only God can do.

And, like Bartimaeus and the widow in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18, be obnoxious about asking. Keep asking. Then look for signs and glimpses that He is working to give you all He has planned for you. Allow your request to be sculpted into His will and His ways so that in whatever way He chooses to give what you ask for, He will get the glory and His kingdom will grow.

The final question:

If Jesus says “Yes,” what will you do with His answer?

What did I do when I realized I could see better? I paused at every step to absorb all the new things I could see. Shopping trips and walks took twenty minutes longer because I kept gawking. I have such a patient husband!

What did Bartimaeus do with his miracle? He immediately followed Jesus. Loud mouthed Bartimaeus who had been so pesky in calling for Jesus, now praised the Lord for his new eyesight, loud and long enough for others to get the message and praise God too.

What do you want God to do for you?

Do you have the faith that He can do what you request?

Faith shows you know who Jesus is and what He can do. It keeps asking until you see God at work in your behalf. And it praises God loud and long, giving Him the credit for what he has done.

Let’s have the faith to ask for the impossible.

Have you read my book, With Fresh Eyes: 60 Insights Into the Miraculously Ordinary from a Woman Born Blind? You’ll find out more about the unexpected surgery that gave me eyesight I never thought possible until I reached Heaven’s halls. And, no matter what your visual acuity, you will discover, as thousands of other reader have, that you too can look at the world with fresh eyes. Order your copy of With Fresh Eyes today.