16^th October

“A deaf man with a speech impediment was brought to Him, and the people begged Jesus to lay His hand on the man to heal him. Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone. He put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then, spitting on His own fingers, He touched the man’s tongue. Looking up to heaven, He sighed and said, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened!” Instantly the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!”

Mark 7:32-35

Reading this passage, one might ask the question why didn’t Jesus just say ‘be healed’ like He had done so many times before. Instead, unusually, Jesus put His hands in the ears of the deaf man, spat on His own fingers and touched the man’s tongue to heal him. It may seem strange to us and unorthodox, but the end result was that the deaf man could hear and speak freely. Even the crowds were completely amazed and said, “everything He does is wonderful..”

Quite often too, in our own lives, the answers to our prayers might not always come in the way we expect. We must remember that we can’t limit an infinite God to our small finite minds. What we can be sure of is that God knows what we need before we even ask it and is working for our good and His glory. He does answer our prayers and He is a good God. Let us take confidence that ‘everything He does is wonderful’, even when it is the unexpected. God is in control.