The Works of God

Those of us with children living with disabilities acquire a whole new vocabulary:  IEP (individualized education program), IDEA (individuals with disabilities education act), Section 504 (the section of the rehabilitation act of 1973 that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities).

Positively, these programs and protections exist to help people with disabilities receive services that benefit them.  Negatively, they exist because people with disabilities have been denied services and opportunities that would have benefited them.

And even with these programs and protections, most parents find they must advocate for their children.

We can hear echoes of that personal advocacy in the accounting of Jesus and Bartimaeus:

46 And they came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.  Mark 10:46-52

Charles Spurgeon points out when it is good to ignore others and continue to go straight to the source of help!

He had no thought of any ceremonies to be performed by priests; he had no idea of any medicine which might be given him by physicians.  His cry was, “Son of David, Son of David.” The only notice he took of others was to disregard them, and still to cry, “Son of David, Son of David.” “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?” was the Lord’s question, and it answered to the desire of his soul, for he knew that if anything were done it must be done by the Son of David.

It is essential that our faith must rest alone on Jesus. Mix anything with Christ, and you are undone. If your faith shall stand with one foot upon the rock of his merits, and the other foot upon the sand of your own duties, it will fall, and great will be the fall thereof. Build wholly on the rock, for if so much as a corner of the edifice shall rest on anything beside, it will ensure the ruin of the whole:

“None but Jesus, none but Jesus Can do helpless sinners good.”

All true faith is alike in this respect.

Charles Spurgeon, Saving Faith, Delivered on March 15, 1874.