Mark 8:22-33
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. 23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 And He sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”
29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And he said this plainly.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Jesus has a day that repeated.
He dealt with a blind man, who needed to see. And Jesus spent time holding the blind man's hand. Helping him to see. And the blind man tells Jesus, in many layers, he worries about mankind. The blind man worries mankind is important and tall as trees, looming, largely in his life. Jesus probably kindly joking, and seriously, tells him to stay out of the Village. Bethsaida is filled with woes and doubts. Jesus called Bethsaida unbelieving.
Peter gives the mirror image of this behavior. Jesus is saying discomfort arrives as the Gift of Forgiveness is given. We have to Believe God to know we are forgiven. We have to trust God's Plan.
We accept God's Plan. We argue with God in prayer.
Abraham argued with God. And won life for a village, sinners. Abraham told God, I know You are Fair and Just. I, personally, believe if Abraham had argued for Isaac not to be killed, but only by God's hand or Word, we would have seen something we understood better. Abraham didn't argue with God as Almighty. Abraham didn't fall into God's Mercy.
David argued with God over the census David unwisely took. David placed himself in God's hands and asked God to direct His Anger at David. Abraham could have done this. David always, always, always believed in the Mercy and Steadfast Love of God and His Word.
Jacob argued with God's Plan. His hip didn't do so well. Jacob gloated, not to let Go of God's Messenger.
Luke 18:9-14
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed[a] thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bowed low to the ground and prayed with his face between his knees. Elijah asked for rain, 7 times. He was persistent.
Jairus persisted for his daughter.
Paul prayed for a physical ailment and only asked 3 times. And knew he was to stop.
Jesus said even if you believe God deals like an unjust Judge, continue to always pray with Hope.
Which circumstance for our prayers today?
How to ask, how to stop, how to decide?
In her bitter distress, Hannah prayed to the LORD and wept with many tears.
Job 21:25
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
Proverbs 15:13
A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
Proverbs 14:10
Brenton Septuagint Translation
If a man's mind is intelligent, his soul is sorrowful; and when he rejoices, he has no fellowship with pride.
Contemporary English Version
No one else can really know how sad or happy you are.
The heart that knoweth the bitterness of his own soul, in his joy the stranger shall not intermeddle.
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