Do You Believe He Can?
"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored." — Matthew 9:27-30a (NIV)
After reading this passage a few days ago, I got caught on this one question I hadn’t really stopped to think about in the times that I had read it before.
Before Jesus healed the blind men, He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
That kind of seems like an odd question at first. Of course Jesus was able to heal them. These weren’t men who simply thought Jesus was a miracle worker or a gifted teacher. They called Him “Son of David,” a title for the promised Messiah. They already believed He was the One God had promised to send. The One who created their eyes certainly had the power to restore their sight.
So why ask?
I don’t think Jesus was testing whether they knew who He was. They had already demonstrated that. I think He was inviting them to consider whether they truly trusted Him to do what they were asking Him to do. The question wasn’t for His information. It was for theirs.
Then Jesus says something else that has challenged me: “According to your faith let it be done to you.”
I’ll admit, those words almost make me uncomfortable because they raise all kinds of questions. Does that mean God only works if we have enough faith? Does His willingness to act depend on how confident we are?
I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying.
Throughout Scripture, God’s power is never dependent on the strength of our faith. He is just as powerful when our faith is weak as when it is strong. The father in Mark 9 cried out, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24, NIV), and Jesus met him with compassion. Paul pleaded three times for God to remove the thorn in his flesh, yet the Lord answered, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV). God’s ability was never in question.
But Matthew also doesn’t let us ignore Jesus’ words. He intentionally includes them. Jesus didn’t say, “According to My power,” because His power was never in question. He said, “According to your faith,” because their trust was.
Their faith didn’t produce the miracle. Jesus did. Their faith was the posture through which they received what only He could give. Before Jesus addressed what they wanted Him to do, He addressed whether they trusted the One they were asking.
And I can’t help but wonder if Jesus asks us the same question.
Not because He doesn’t know the answer, but because we need to.
Most of us have no problem bringing our requests to God. We ask Him to provide, to heal, to restore, to protect, to open doors, to close others, to give us wisdom, and to work in situations that feel completely beyond our control.
But if Jesus interrupted our prayers with one simple question—“Do you believe that I am able to do this?”—how would we answer?
Not with the answer we know we’re supposed to give in church, but with the answer our hearts are actually living.
Because if I’m honest, there have been seasons when my prayers sounded full of faith while my expectations quietly assumed disappointment. I prayed because I knew I should, but somewhere underneath my words, I had already decided what God probably wasn’t going to do. I knew He could, but I wasn’t really living as though I believed He would accomplish His perfect will in my situation.
I wonder how often I do the same thing today. I pray for provision while trying to manufacture my own security. I ask God to open a door while already preparing myself for it to stay shut. I ask Him to move, yet quietly assume nothing will change.
Maybe that’s why Jesus asked the question before He performed the miracle.
He wasn’t simply interested in what the blind men wanted Him to do. He wanted them to trust the One who was about to do it.
Faith isn’t believing God will always do exactly what I want. Faith is believing He is able to do all things and trusting that whatever He chooses is perfectly wise, perfectly loving, and perfectly good. As Hebrews reminds us, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV). Faith isn’t confidence in a particular outcome; it’s confidence in the God who holds the outcome.
So today, maybe Jesus isn’t asking us how impressive our faith feels. Maybe He’s asking something much simpler:
Do you believe that I am able?
Because He is.
He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20, NIV). He is able to provide according to His riches (Philippians 4:19, NIV). He is able to complete the good work He began in us (Philippians 1:6, NIV).
Whether His answer is yes, wait, or no, His ability has never been the question - The question is whether we will trust the One who holds the answer.
But maybe there’s another question tucked inside that one.
Do we truly believe He will act?
Not necessarily according to our plans or our timeline, but according to His perfect will. Do we believe He is actively working for our good, even when we can’t see it? Do we believe He hears every prayer, cares about every detail, and is faithful to accomplish exactly what He has purposed?
It’s one thing to say we believe Jesus is able. It’s another to live like we believe it.
When we truly trust that He is able and that He is working according to His will, it changes the way we pray. We pray with expectation instead of resignation. We wait with hope instead of despair. We surrender our timelines, our fears, and our need to control the outcome because we trust the One who holds it.
Faith isn’t convincing ourselves that God will do exactly what we want. It’s confidently entrusting ourselves to the God who always does what is good. It is believing that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (1 John 5:14, NIV), and trusting that His answer will always be wiser than our request.
So ask boldly. Trust deeply. Believe that He is able. And then live like you believe the God you’re praying to is still working—even when you haven’t yet seen the miracle.
bytaylormcgee
