Who are the blind and the deaf and the poor?

I love my young students so much that I often wish I could just open them up and pour life-giving strength and spirit into each one of them.  I'm sure this is how Jesus felt about us while He walked the earth, and continues to this day to feel about us.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way--we ourselves have to reach out for the strength and spirit of God, but most of us are not willing to do that until we experience our own weakness and fear and inability to manage our lives.  Then, out of the darkness, we cry for help.

Fortunately, Scripture tells us that "God hears the cry of the poor, and those bowed down in spirit He saves."  Years ago, I read a book by Watchman Nee, a man who spent the last 25 years of his life in a Chinese prison for preaching the Gospel.  His books written from that prison cell are among the most beautiful I have ever read.  In A Normal Christian Life, Nee writes the story of a group of young monks swimming in a deep river.  On the shore is an older monk who is a strong swimmer.  As he watches, one of the young men begins to drown and calls for help.  The older monk on shore does not immediately go to the rescue of the young man, and someone questions why.  The older monk replies, "I must wait until he stops trying to save himself, because he would pull both of us under.  When he stops struggling, I can pull him safely to shore." 

Nee says that's the way it is with us and God.  When we finally come to the realization that we are powerless to save ourselves, we are open to God's action in our lives.  As long as we think there might be some hope to save ourselves by our own efforts, He has to let us continue to drown.  We must finally "give up" and let Him do His work in our lives.  Then we cannot pat ourselves on the back, thinking that we finally succeeded in our efforts.  We are all poor and lonely, all weak and ineffectual, all blind and deaf and in need of having our eyes and ears opened. 

Some people like to say that God helps those who help themselves.  I like to say that God helps those who cannot help themselves.  Isaiah says, "Let the poor man say, 'I am rich,' and the rich man say, 'I am poor.'"  Lots to think about there.