While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. Luke 5:12-13
I don’t know how many times I’ve been on my prayer mat and prayed something like, “Lord, if your willing?” or, “Lord I need a break,” or, “I need a miracle,” or “I need a touch from you, Jesus.” Can you relate?
You see when we go to the Lord broken we are saying, “Are you willing? I need this from you.”
His answer is, I am willing. It is my joy. It was for the joy set before Him that He went to the cross (Hebrews 12:2) He meets us in our pain and brokenness.
God desires a more intimate relationship with you. It doesn’t come from Him knowing us more. He knows every part of us. He knows every hair on our head. It comes from us knowing Him more, us learning new facets of who He is. We will live our whole lives and we will still not know all there is to know of Him. Until we get to heaven, he continually reveals new things to us. Isn’t that amazing? The beauty of it takes my breath away.
On a walk recently I came across this branch. As you can see it is was a huge branch. Clearly it wasn’t small; it was massive, at least 12 feet long. I look around and surveyed the rest of the tress on the street. They all stood tall without any broken or dangling branches. We hadn’t had a storm the night before. What happened? How did this happen?
I looked up at the tree and I could see where this branch had broken off. It was really high. I’m guessing by the type of tree and the height of the break, nobody climbed the tree and broke it off with extra weight. Stepping back, I shook my head and asked myself “What happened?”
I said to the Lord, “What happened?”
Sometimes things break, He whispered.
“Well, isn’t that the truth.”
And when they break, I come in and I heal.
Sometimes we experience a break, but then He comes in and heals us. He is always willing to heal our brokenness.
Last summer, I was broken. Those who know me, saw me broken. But I’m not broken anymore. I’m a new person from the girl I was last June. When I look back over the last year and think about all that the Lord’s given me, all that He’s done in my life, I repeat back to Him, “Yes, you do come in and heal! Thank you!”
Friends, when we fall on our face before Him, He meets us there, with those hands with the holes in them. All we have to do is imagine His hands that bear the evidence of what He was willing to do out of love for us. Those are the hands that grab hold of us and draw us to him.
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.” Psalm 18:16
He heals us and then He whispers the good things He has planned for us.
He absolutely has good things for us.
