Daily Devotional – 1/29/19 “Don’t hush me!”

In Mark 10:46, there is a man named Bartimaeus who is sitting on the side of the road begging. Bible shares that he heard noise and asked those around him what was happening. They tell him, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by to which Bartimaeus begins to yell out, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” Now, what disturbed my spirit is what happened next. Those around him told him to be quiet. In fact, bible says, they admonished him or in other words reprimanded or tried to make him feel bad about calling Jesus. I preached on this Sunday but I needed to stop through and tell somebody, stop allowing folk to hush you, especially when it’s your life on the line. Stop allowing folk to make you feel bad about getting the help you need. It’s not them who is enduring the pain, it’s not them whose day is always dark, it’s not them that has to depend on folk just to survive and it’s not them suffering. Bartimaeus was blind yet he had enough faith to know that Jesus could heal him and had he listened when they said be quiet, he would have stayed in the shape he was in. And maybe the folk around him didn’t know any better or maybe they just didn’t want Bartimaeus healed because the thought a beggar wasn’t worthy.

Whatever the case, let me make this clear. We are all worthy of Jesus so don’t ever hush me when I’m calling on my help and stop allowing folk to hush you when the time is now for you to cry loud and spare not. Had Bartimaeus listened, he would have missed the opportunity to stand before Jesus. However, he didn’t because when folk told him to hush, he hollered louder and with his faith, he was immediately healed. How many of you are missing what you need because you’ve been listening to folk? The same folk who will not see you as anything more than your circumstance? You may know this but sickness doesn’t have a respect of person, disease will not skip you because you’re cute/handsome, storms will not keep bypassing you and neither will the enemy stop trying to stop you so whenever you get the chance to cry out to God, don’t be hushed. And if the folk around you will hush you, in the presence of Jesus, you need to let them go. If the folk around you will quiet your cry to Jesus, when you’re in need, you need to tell them goodbye. If they yell for you to be quiet when the healer, sustainer, waymaker and deliverer is near but not when you’re begging; you need to rethink those you keep company with. As for me, I don’t want those kinds of people around me. I need some folk who will join in, who will press with me through the crowd to get to the feet of Jesus, some friends who can holler when I can’t, some folk I can link my faith with when mine is getting weak and some folk who will encourage me, not rebuke me. You may be okay with the shape you’re in but I’m not so don’t hush me when the situation changer is near and I’m hollering to get His attention.