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What Do You Want Me To Do For You?

I have had lots of time to myself lately. My roommate is out of town, August is notorious for everyone leaving on holiday in Paris, and we recently lost our office space which means we are all working from home. Following a couple particularly stressful weeks, I headed out of town for the weekend to relax and spend some time in prayer.

While there I read an incredible book called “One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are.” (By the way, incredible book. I highly recommend it.) In the book, she references a story from Luke 18, and her simple reference of it caused me to pause and examine myself. She recounts the story of the blind beggar who asked Jesus to heal him.

In short, the beggar hears that Jesus is passing and cries out for Jesus to have mercy on him. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” To which the beggar responds, “Lord, I want to see.”

In this simple question from Jesus, there was so much. I have been asking a lot of questions of Jesus lately and have found myself, much like the blind beggar, crying out for mercy. I have spent a lot of time praying about some specific things and searching for answers that I was not sure existed. But when faced with this simple question – What do you want me to do for you? – I found I had no answer.

You see, my prayers were empty. I was complaining about pain and lack of direction. I was frustrated with what I felt were broken promises. But when I tried to answer that simple question, I realized that wasn’t doing anything. When faced with the possibility of asking something of Jesus and having it done, I questioned whether I wanted direction. What if I didn’t like the direction I was presented with? I questioned whether I wanted to feel released from the pain inflicted on me. What then, could I hold against the person who had inflicted it on me?

The beggar was so confident of what he wanted. He simply wanted to see. Forget the money he would lose from the people who took pity on him. Forget the disappointment he might feel at things not being as exciting as he had hoped. Forget the other senses being dulled when he received sight. “Lord, I want to see!”

I believe this passage may just have changed the way I pray. We have to pray in such a way that we are always answering this question.

“Have mercy on me!”
“What do you want me to do for you?”

“It hurts…”
“What do you want me to do for you?”

“I can’t do this anymore…”
“What do you want me to do for you?”

What do you want HIM to do for you?? Dare to answer that question…