“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.” (John 9:1)
Have you ever wanted to talk to people, and found they were just too busy? Megan experienced that this past Christmas. The whole family was planning to meet at Grandma’s house for the holiday. This was the one time of the year where every uncle, aunt, and cousin got together. Megan was especially excited about it, because her older cousin Audrey was going to be there.
Megan had always looked up to Audrey. Audrey was the oldest cousin, the coolest cousin, and also the first cousin to go to college. Even though Megan was only in 6th grade, she still could hardly wait to hear all about college life.
The day finally came when Megan’s family loaded up the car and headed to Grandma’s house. Megan’s family was the first to arrive. One by one, the other families came, until finally Audrey’s family came. Megan ran out the door and into the snow without even bothering to put on her coat. As she ran up, she saw someone in the car that she did not recognize. Audrey climbed out of the car and gave Megan a big hug. “Hey, Megan! How are you doing?” Audrey said. “I want you to meet a friend of mine; his name is Derrick.”
It turned out that Derrick was Audrey’s boyfriend. Since he was new to the family reunion, the whole family wanted to talk with him and Audrey. Every time Megan tried to talk to Audrey, someone else would want to be introduced to Derrick. Even when Megan tried to get Audrey to go snow-tubing, she was too busy! Megan finally gave up and went tubing all by herself.
When the time came for everyone to cram back into their cars and head to their own homes, Audrey found Megan. “Megan, I know we didn’t get to spend much time together this year. I am very sorry.” Megan said that it was all right, but deep down she was really disappointed.
On the way home, Megan’s mom asked her what was the matter. “I can’t believe she was too busy for me!” she said quietly.
Megan’s mom thought about it for a moment, and then told her something very important. “Megan, people will let you down from time to time. They don’t want to, but they do. But there is Someone who will never let you down and be too busy for you.”
Megan’s mom pulled a Bible out of her bag and read the story from John 9 about the healing of a blind man. The story starts out like this: “And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.” Megan’s mom asked her, “Where do you think Jesus was, when He ‘passed by’?”
“I don’t know,” Megan replied. Megan’s mom said, “Look at verse 59 of chapter 8 (“Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by”). Jesus was in the middle of people trying to hurt Him! But as He was passing by them, He noticed this blind man and took the time to stop and heal him.”
Megan’s mom was trying to help Megan understand that Jesus did not even let people who were trying to hurt Him keep Him from doing His Father’s will. The Bible promises us that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us. He is never too busy for us. We can go to Him in prayer at any time of day or night–He is always there for us.
People may sometimes have to let us down, but Jesus is never too busy when we need Him.
My Response:
» How do we know that Jesus will always be there for us?
» What are some things that you might need to talk to Jesus about?
» In your life, how can you be like Jesus and take the time to notice other people who might need some attention?