Emails to God – Lord, if you are willing… (Matthew 8:1-4)

1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Dear God, I got curious abut what gift Moses commanded so I Googled it (to no avail). Then I did a search for the word “leprosy” in the Bible and found that the word isn’t mentioned for the first time until 2 Samuel. Incidentally, “leper” doesn’t appear until Matthew. So I assume that the gift Jesus commanded him to give had to do with miraculous healing in general and not leprosy in particular. Interestingly, there is also no mention of this man disobeying Jesus in the rest of chapter 8, so perhaps he is one of the few healed people who did what he was supposed to do.

I wonder if the phrase I am looking for in my prayer life when I ask for remarkable things is, “If you are willing…?” I tend to hesitate to ask for supernatural things because I am unsure if you are “willing”. This uncertainty causes me not to ask. I know you can do anything. I have seen you do miraculous things. I am just hesitant to ask for the miraculous because I am afraid that it might be outside of your will.

Father, if you are willing you can provide for my family and make me the father I need to be for my children. Father, if you are willing you can heal our patients and our volunteers who are sick. Father, if you are willing, you can comfort those who mourn. Father, if you are willing, you can provide for our Center’s financial needs through our donors. Father, if you are willing, you can love others through me. Father, if you are willing, you can heal my heart and make me whole. But regardless of whether or not you are willing, I am your servant. You are my God. Help me to glorify you in everything that I do so that others might be drawn to you.