Heal Me Now, God

There are deep longings in our heart, things we want God to do for us. Yet we don’t always know how to approach our Lord, or even what to say. The leper in Matthew 8:1-4 shows us the importance of laying our burdens before Jesus.

There are three things the leper does in making his request in verse 3. First he bowed before Jesus. Verse 1 tells us there was a large crowd following Jesus and the leper was not afraid to humble himself before Jesus to make his request.

Second, the leper left his request in the hands of Jesus. He told Jesus, “Lord, if You are willing (NASB).” This demonstrated his willingness to accept God’s will. This can be a difficult thing for us to accept. When we are willing to accept God’s will, we open up ourselves to his plans and what He may accomplish through our circumstances.

Third, the leper believed Jesus could heal him and he voiced his request: “You can make me clean.” God wants us to bring our requests to him. When we voice what is on our heart, there can be a release of our agony in the act of laying it before God. It is an act of training our heart to go to God with our struggles and not keep it all to ourselves.

Jesus did choose to immediately heal the leper (verse 3). He told the leper, “I am willing; be cleansed.” There is an immediacy to his healing, but the leper has already shown a willingness to accept whatever Jesus decided. Then Jesus told him, “show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them (4).” Jesus wanted the leper to testify before the priests about his healing—giving God the glory.