Led Apart

“He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town”

Mark 8:23

That was a very gentle thing to do. Let us look very closely at the picture — Jesus is leading a poor blind man along the street. What thoughts does it start in our minds?

The blind man represents each one of us in our sinful state, in the midst of a world of beauty, but seeing nothing; groping in the gloom, unable to find the way alone; doomed to perish forever in the darkness, unless some one takes us by the hand and leads us. As Jesus came to this man in his blindness, so He comes to each one of us, offering to take us by the hand and be our guide, to lead us, through the gloom and the dangers, home to light and glory. We can never stumble in the darkness if He leads us.

The blind man entrusting himself to be led by this stranger, without fear or questioning, and quietly and confidingly going with Him, is a picture of what true faith in Christ always does. It is in this way that we are to commit ourselves to Christ. It is not enough to lay our sins on Him; we must entrust our whole life to His guidance. We can never find the way ourselves in this world’s paths, but we may entrust ourselves with unquestioning confidence to Christ’s leading.

“I do not try to see my way,
Before, behind, or left, or right;
I cannot tell what dangers gray
Do haunt my steps, nor at what height
Above the sea my path doth wind:
For I am blind.

“Yet not without a guide I wend
My unseen way, by day, by night;
Close by my side there walks a Friend,——
Strong, tender, true: I trust His sight;
He sees my way before, behind,
Though I am blind.”

Help In Time Of Need

“Having eyes, see ye not ?… Do ye not remember”

Mark 8:18

There is nothing unreasonable in expecting a man with two eyes, when walking through an art gallery, to see the beautiful pictures that hang upon the walls. Why were his eyes given to him, if he is not to see with them? And it was nothing unreasonable that our Lord looked for when He expected the disciples to understand His spiritual teachings. They had eyes with which they might have seen spiritual things, yet they failed to use them. “Having eyes, see ye not?”

Many people never learn to see much with their natural eyes. They walk over the fields in summer days and never see a lovely thing; while in every wild flower and in every grass blade there is beauty enough, if perceived, to fill the dullest heart with rapture. It is still more true in spiritual things: we walk in a world full of the glories of God’s love; yet how much do we see of this ineffable splendour? At best, in this world we see only through a glass, darkly. Should we not train our eyes to see?

Then there was another wonderful faculty which the disciples did not use. This was memory. “Do ye not remember?” They did remember the facts of the miracles very definitely, but the spiritual lessons they did not recall. They had forgotten the spiritual meaning of the miracle. This is the way all of us are too apt to do: we remember the things God has done for us in the past, but we fail to draw the lessons from these experiences which they are meant to teach us; we fail to profit by the experience. Every deliverance in time of danger, every help in time of need, ought to write upon our hearts its new lesson on trusting in the Lord. When we come again to similar points of need or danger, we ought not to be afraid, but, remembering how God helped us before, should believe that He will give us the same help in the new experiences.

The Lord Will Provide

The Lord will Provide



“They have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat”

Mark 8:2

This word of Christ shows first how earnest the people were in their desire to be with Christ. They had been three days with Him, and even when their provision was exhausted they would not leave Him. They would rather stay with Him hungry than leave Him to go away to seek bread. It would be a good thing if there was such devotion to Christ in these days. Some people can scarcely sit through one short hour with Jesus in the church, or spend a few minutes with Him morning and evening, communing with Him. If we had real spiritual hunger, we should not weary so soon of waiting upon Christ.

Another thought suggested by these words is, that Christ will take good care of those who are earnestly following Him. The reason for this multitude being so long in the wilderness was their desire to be with Jesus; and it was this fact specially that stirred His compassion when He saw them growing hungry. “They came here to find me, and they have lingered here, forgetting their own needs, that they might be near me. I will not allow them to suffer, but will provide for them.” We may draw the lesson that Jesus will take care of those who are enduring hardness for His sake. He may not always save them from suffering, but He will always watch over them and provide for them in the best way. His heart is just as tender now in the midst of heaven’s glory, and as thoughtful of His friends in their need, as it was when He was on the earth.

We must not overlook the fact that it is care for the people’s bodily wants that we find here in our Lord. We are constantly in danger of limiting our faith in Christ to spiritual things; but He looks just as lovingly after the supply of our physical wants as after the needs of our souls.

Deaf And Dumb

“His ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain”

Mark 7:35

It is a great thing to have deaf ears opened. In many places in the Bible we find the words, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” This suggests that there are people who have no ears, and also that there are those who, having ears, hear not. He who cannot hear is a great loser. The world is full of harmonies of sound. The deaf man misses all the pleasure which others derive from the songs of the birds, the tones of human speech, the charms of music. It is a great thing when closed ear-gates are opened.

Also, souls have ears — ears fitted to hear the voice of God and the harmonies of heavenly music. Yet there are many who are utterly deaf to these spiritual utterances. They hear God neither in the voices of Nature, nor in the whisperings of conscience, nor in the sacred words of Holy Scripture. Christ is able also to open these spiritual ears, that our souls may listen on this earth to the music of heaven. What blessing it would be to Christians if they would but ask Christ to open their ears to His word.

Then it is a great thing also to have our tongues loosed, that we may talk of these things to others. Some people, however, who seem to have their ears opened, still have their tongues tied. They do not speak of God’s love. They have such an impediment in their speech when they talk of spiritual things that they stammer and hesitate and break down altogether, although on other themes they can talk plainly and fluently. There are Christian men who are eloquent when they talk of business, of science, of farming, or of whatever may most occupy their thoughts and hands; but the moment the subject of religious experience is approached, their eloquence forsakes them. They are tongue tied Christians. What a blessing it would be to them if Christ would some day loose the string of their tongue, that they could speak plainly!

Divine Sympathy

“Looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha.”

Mark 7:34

How it must have saddened the heart of Jesus to walk through this world and see so much human misery! There is a story of a sculptor who wept as he saw at his feet the shattered fragments of his breathing marble, on which he had spent years of patient, loving toil.

Jesus walked through this world amid the ruin of the noblest work of His own hands. Everywhere He saw the destruction wrought by sin. So His grief was twofold — tender sympathy with human suffering, and sorrow over the ruinous work of sin.

It is a precious thought to us that we are so dear to Jesus that the beholding of our grief touches and stirs His heart. What a wonderful revelation it is to us that we are thought of by Him, and that He cares enough for us to be moved to sorrow by our woes and sufferings!

Then Christ’s help does not end in the thrill of sympathy. That is about as far as human help usually goes. People stand over us when we are in misfortune or trouble, and heave a sigh, and then pass on. Sometimes this is all they can do. Human sympathy in suffering is a wonderful help; but the assurance of divine sympathy is infinitely more uplifting. Then Christ gives real help. He was moved with compassion as He saw the widow of Nain in her lonely sorrow, and restored her dead son to her. He wept with Mary and Martha, and then raised their brother. He sighed as He looked on the misfortune of this deaf man, and then opened his ears. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and then gives “grace to help in time of need.”

Not only does He pity us when He finds us deaf to all the sweet voices of love and grace contained in scripture, but He is ready to open our ears. We have only to bring to Christ our infirmities, and He will take them and give us back in their place souls with all their lost powers restored.

Crumbs From The Master's Table

“The dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.”

Matthew 15:27

Both the humility and the quick, eager faith of this woman appear in this response. She was not offended by the figure our Lord had used. She was willing to be as a little dog under the Master’s table. The children were first served, and then the pieces they let fall belonged to the dogs. And even the crumbs from that table were enough for her, more than the richest dainties from any other table.

Thus both humility and faith were shown in her answer; and in both she is an example to us. We should come to Christ with a deep sense of our unworthiness, ready to take the lowest place. It is such a precious thing to be permitted to take even the crumbs from the Master’s table, that we should exult in the privilege. Even the crumbs of His grace and love are better than all the richest feasts of this world.

“Not worthy, Lord, to gather up the crumbs
With trembling hand that from thy table fall,
A weary, heavy laden sinner comes
To plead thy promise and obey thy call.

“I am not worthy to be thought thy child,
Nor sit the last and lowest at thy board;
Too long a wanderer, and too oft beguiled,
I only ask one reconciling word.”

Yet we are not fed with crumbs; we are seated at the full table, with the richest provisions before us. The prodigal, returning, asked only to be made a servant, as he felt unworthy to be restored to a son’s place. But father love knew no such half way restoration as that. The white robe, the ring, the shoes, were given to him, insignia of sonship. God puts the lowliest and unworthiest at once into the children’s place, and feeds them abundantly.