“The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, ‘Ask what you wish Me to give you’” (1 Kings 3:5).
Wouldn’t you love that dream? God appears to you to ask, “What do you want Me to do for you? Anything. Just name it.”
God wasn’t the only One to ask this question. Jesus asked it as well. Two different incidents. Same question.
“What do you want Me to do for You?”
The first involved two brothers. They’d come to Jesus with a demand. “We want You to do for us whatever we ask of You” (Mark 10:35).
The second involved two blind men. They’d come to Jesus with a despair. “Lord, have mercy on us” (Matthew 20:30).
“What do you want Me to do for you?” Jesus asked both the same question. Both had a response.
The brothers responded with a desire outlining prestige, power and authority (Mark 10;37). They knew Jesus was the Son of God. And they were His close friends. They always had them nearby. The least He could do was grant them a spot in His upcoming Kingdom.
The blind men responded with a desire outlining urgency, recklessness and abandon (Matthew 20:33). They recognized Jesus as the Son of David. And they knew this as a sign for the Messiah (Matthew 22:42 – common Jewish belief). They had never had Him this close. This was their one and maybe only chance to ask for their greatest desire: their sight.
Jesus had taken the two brothers into His intimacy. He had explained that His future held mocking, spitting, scourging and dying (Mark 10:32-34). But it was just after this explanation that they disregarded His explanation and decided to ask instead for front row seats.
The two blind men were on the outside, maybe having never known intimacy, much less that of Jesus. But as the cast-offs of the day, they already knew mocking, spitting, and scourging. What did they have to lose?
The two brothers were denied their request. “It’s not mine to give,” Jesus told them, rather than pointing out their obvious trust in power and prestige.
But the two blind men received their sight. For their faith was in a Person, not in a position. A Who rather than a what. The Spiritual unseen rather than the physical well-being.
Which brings us to today. Jesus is still asking, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
What will be your request?
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
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