Matthew 9:27-31 Their eyes were opened.
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 3, 2019, Matthew 9:27-31
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” But they went away and spread his fame through all that district.
(Understanding the Text) Jesus let the men have what they had faith to receive. I wonder if He gives us this in our lives of service to Him also. According to my faith that Jesus can transform people, it will be done? According to my faith that Jesus is able to successfully grow the church, it will grow? Is the limitation for my church, our lack of ability to believe? While there is a component of this involved, something seems wrong with this as the whole answer. When we don’t know that we can’t do something, we go ahead with confidence and many times succeed, so it may be partly that when we have total faith in Jesus doing something, we act in confidence and accomplish it; Does this mean that because we have a lack of vision, we do not act in ways that would bring about church growth? Maybe, but again there is still something missing with this idea.
The blind men called Jesus “Son of David.” As such, they were acknowledging His Messiahship, or at least His royal lineage, but most likely His Messiahship. This is something Matthew thinks it is important that we know. The blind men identified Jesus as the Son of David, and He did not rebuke them.
(Revelation of God) I imagine Jesus walking down the street with the usual crowds around Him. One of the blind men asks what the ruckus is all about, and someone tells him that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. The blind men know who this is and begin shouting to be healed. Jesus motions for two of His disciples to lead the blind men after Him. He continues walking until He gets to the home where He is staying. He enters and has time to sit and relax as the rest of the disciples slowly enter keeping the crowd outside. The disciples with the blind men enter and lead the two blind men over to where Jesus is sitting. The blind men make their request in a properly respectful manner, and Jesus responds by asking them if they truly believe that He can heal them. They respond with a respectful yes. Jesus reaches out to first one and then the other and touches their eyes with His fingers telling them that they are healed because of their faith. They go from darkness to light and clearly see everyone around them in the dim light coming through the windows of the house. They look around and blink again and again unsure if the sight will last before focusing on Jesus with huge smiles of joy and thanking Him. He warns them strongly that they must not tell anyone, but in their joy, they barely hear Him. The disciples lead them out, and as they go, Jesus can’t help but smile at their joy even while He heaves a sigh of frustration because He knows that they will not obey His command to keep quiet about the miracle, and the crowds will become even bigger.
(Understanding the Text) Matthew again makes a point of telling his audience that the miracle he is presenting as evidence is well known to them, and if not, it can be verified because there were many people who knew of it. Here is one more piece of public evidence that cannot be denied by the skeptics.
One of the themes in this section of Matthew seems to be faith in the healing process. The paralytic man’s friends have a tremendous amount of faith to knock a hole in the roof, and Jesus responds to that faith; the woman who touches Jesus’ robe has total faith in His power and is healed; Jairus has faith to humble himself before Jesus begging Him to come, and He is rewarded with his daughter being raised from the dead. Jesus calls Matthew and he immediately follows Jesus out of faith that Jesus is the true Messiah. Two blind men are healed according to their faith. Matthew seems to be saying, “Here is evidence. Have faith and you, too, can be a saved.”
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that Jesus asks for faith before providing the healing. He requests my trust before He gives the cure. I don’t know if this is a requirement for Him to be able to actually work in me, or if it is for my own sake that He asks this. I pray to trust You to perform great actions and transformations in my life.