This post is part of a 40-day journey following Jesus in his prayer life. We’ll explore virtually every reference in the Gospels to Jesus and prayer. For a more in-depth treatment, see my book Prayers from the Pit.
“Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly” (Mark 7:31-35 ESV).
Jesus looks twice.
He looks at the one in hardship. Then he looks to the One in heaven. Both glances are significant. The first allows Jesus to see the suffering on earth. The second allows Jesus to see the support from heaven. The first permits Jesus to see a person. The second permits Jesus to find the provision.
Are you looking around on this earth? Do you see the needs of the people around you?
Are you looking up to heaven? Do you see the God who alone can meet those needs?
Do you realize that Jesus sees you? What do you think he sees when he looks at you? Take comfort in the fact that as he looks at you he also looks to heaven and prays for you.
Go and do likewise. Spend these forty days looking twice. And as you look to the ones in hardship, also look to the One in heaven. And pray.
