Mark 1:40-41 (NLT)
40 A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.
41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”
“Jesus did not simply operate in deeds of compassion but actually felt the inner turmoils and roiling emotions of pity toward the unfortunate. When the blind and the lame and the afflicted appealed to Jesus, ‘his heart responded with a profound feeling of pity for them.’ His compassion fulfilled itself in the outward act…In your grief, he is grieved. In your distress, he is distressed.” (Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly)
Jesus still responds this way – when we come to him in distress, he is moved with compassion and reaches out to touch us and restore us. Today, let’s bring to him those places of pain and brokenness, where we are blind and lame and afflicted. He will meet us there in perfect compassion and with his restoring touch.
Prayer: Jesus, I trust you and your heart for me. I bring to you my grief and distress. Thank you for washing me in your compassion. Thank you that you always reach out in response to my need. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let’s continue to receive how fully willing our Lord is to touch and restore us as we sing “King of Calvary” by Matt Redman (click here).
-KW
