Keep on praying!

"Many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more ... " (Mark 10:48).

There were many people who tried to silence blind Bartimaeus. Here was the voice of prayer - and they were saying, "Shut up'! Thank God - he didn't shut up. He shouted out. They more they said, "Shut up", the more he shouted out.

Because our praise is loud, that doesn't mean that it's real - but what kind of worship if we can hardly burst a paper bag! Let's lift up our voices to the Lord. Why? Because we want to be loud? - No! There's something much more important than how loud we're singing. It's this - how much we are lifiting up our hearts to the Lord.

We read the story of blind Bartimaeus, and we ask the question: Who was really blind - Bartimaeus or the people who were trying to shut him up?

They could see Bartimaeus, but they couldn't see that he was doing the one thing that really mattered. He was calling upon the Lord. They were busy criticizing him. He kept on calling on the Lord. They were so busy trying to put Bartimaeus right that they hardly even noticed Jesus.

Who was really blind - Bartimaeus or his critics? What did Jesus say? - Jesus spoke by His actions.

Here, we learn from what Jesus didn't do before we learn from what He did do.

If Jesus had been on the side of the silencers, He would have joined them in telling Bartimaeus to shut up. Did Jesus do that? No! He didn't. He did something much better than that.

Jesus' miracle was about more than giving Bartimaeus his sight. It was about faith - "Your faith has made you well." It was about following Jesus - "he followed Jesus" (Mark 10:52).

Bartimaeus had faith. He followed Jesus. What was the problem with his critics? Their problem was quite simple. They were not men of faith. They were not following Jesus. May God help us to be like Bartimaeus - men and women of faith and followers of Jesus.