Jesus meets us where we are. Lately, I’ve been struggling in many aspects of my life. I ask God why I feel this way, or why at times I don’t feel Him or hear Him. I ask the Lord why things are happening the way they are. Today, just listening to some worship songs on a Christian radio station, I realized that Jesus meets us right where we are, whatever situation we are in. If you think about the many prominent characters in the Bible, it is God Who meets them wherever they may be in life. When Jesus called Peter, he was doing his job as a fisherman. When God called Moses, He met Moses where he was and appeared to him through a burning bush. When Jesus called Matthew, he was doing his job as a tax collector in a tax booth. When Jesus called Paul, he was a Pharisee persecuting Christians, Jesus met him where he was, on the road to Damascus, not even expecting Jesus to call out to him, but He met him right where he was, a Pharisee who persecuted the Church. When Jesus healed people, He met them right where they were at in their lives, in their situation of need, needing His healing, needing His grace, needing His mercy, needing His love. Looking at the story of Bartimaeus, a man born blind, he was merely begging and sitting by a roadside. As he heard Jesus passing by, what did he do? Did he remain silent and motionless? No, he cried out loudly to Him “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” People around even told him to be quiet, yet what did he do? Did he become silent? No, the bible says “he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” Jesus then called for Bartimaeus, and we all know what happens next, He even loved Bartimaeus so much that He asked him what he would want Him to do for him (knowing fully that he was blind and would want his sight restored). Jesus healed Bartimaeus at his point of need.
Wherever we are in life, whether we feel we are stuck in a deep hole and we feel like we can’t get ourselves out, Jesus will meet us where we are, He offers His hand to pull us back up, and out of that rut. Whether we are struggling with something and we feel like the situation cannot get better, Jesus will meet us in our struggle. If we need healing, whether physically or spiritually, Jesus will meet us where we are, He is our Healer, our Great Physician. But are we just going to sit and wait and do nothing? Like Bartimaeus, we must have courage and faith and call out to the Lord in whatever situation we may be in. Even when the world tries to drown out our cry for help to the Lord, let us like Bartimaeus cry out all the more loudly to God, Who hears us and is there for us in our point of need, in our lowest point. Jesus meets us where we are. Let’s offer Him our brokenness, let’s offer Him our broken hearts, our broken souls, our imperfections, our struggles, our hurts, our pains, our doubts, our fears, let us offer Christ our lives, that He may take our brokenness and imperfections, our ashes, and He will heal us and make something beautiful out of whatever we can offer to Him, in His perfect timing. Jesus meets us where we are.
Amen.