The Four Men

It’s too hard.

This is taking too long.

What a mess to clean up!

You might assume I am whining about some chore or project. I wish. At least then I would have a definable goal, a post by which to measure success.

Instead, these are portions of my conversations with God . . . as I pray for my people. The situation is way too hard. I have been praying for years. What would an answer to prayer even look like after so long? What could possibly be the way out of all this mess?

One of my husband’s favorite passages comes from Mark 2:1-5.

“When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’”

I have tried to maneuver through a crowd with a stroller when my kids were young. It’s no easy feat, so I can only imagine how impossible it was to get to Jesus with a man on a mat. I love their solution. They not only dug a hole in the roof, but they had to get the man up on the roof in order to lower him down on his mat. And I love that the last verse doesn’t say, “Seeing the paralyzed man’s faith . . .” The four men carrying, digging, and lowering had faith.

Getting the paralyzed man to Jesus had to be exhausting. It had to be messy. It probably took at least a little while. But they didn’t give up. They didn’t whine. They had a plan, and they made it happen.

I want to be like the four men. When I see my people in trouble, or in pain, struggling in their relationship with God, I want to step in with faith. I want to be willing to put the effort in, no matter how hard it will be. I want to put the time in, no matter how long it takes. And I want to be willing to get my hands dirty if that’s what’s needed to get them to Jesus.

It’s not my job to fix the situation. My job is to get them to Jesus. I want to be the one carrying their mat. No more whining.