Two interfacing passages today during my time of “coffee with the Lord” that make a very important point and teach a powerful truth… Psalm 130 and Luke 18:35-43
If you see answers to prayer as “spiritual entitlement” you just don’t understand the way God works! We are ALWAYS the recipients of mercy and grace! Our appeal is always based upon those two things and the Lord’s character – “His steadfast love!” We never “demand” – but we are encouraged to “appeal!”
Consequently, let me give a word of caution to my “faith healer” / “faith formula” friends from an ol’ guy who has regularly prayed for the sick to be healed (James 5:13-15) and seen God graciously answer with miraculous healing. Healing in Scripture is NEVER a matter of “spiritual entitlement!” Instead, most often it is the gracious response from God to this cry uttered in faith… “HAVE MERCY UPON ME…!”
Check out the following Psalm and then compare it with the Scriptural “case study”…
“Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! Oh Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my PLEAS FOR MERCY! If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, that You may be feared! I wait for the Lord! My soul waits, and IN HIS WORD I HOPE! … Hope in the Lord! For with the Lord THERE IS STEADFAST LOVE, and with Him is plentiful redemption!” (From Psalm 130 ESV)
And then read and reflect on the “case study” I read this morning during my devotions… Luke 18:35-43 (and believe me, not the only one in Scripture!)…
It is the story of “a blind man sitting by the roadside.” His urgent appeal? “Jesus, Son of David, HAVE MERCY ON ME!” People tried to quiet him, but “He cried out all the more, ‘Son of David, HAVE MERCY ON ME!” No sense of “spiritual entitlement” here!!! Jesus heard his cry and responded to him, healing him! In fact Jesus told him, “Recover your sight, YOUR FAITH [expressed in an urgent appeal for MERCY] has made you well!” And he followed Jesus “glorifying God!”
Coffee With The Lord 