When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. – John 9:6, KJV

In John 9, Jesus restored sight to a man born blind from birth. For years I was puzzled as to why Jesus chose to make mud with His spittle, anoint the man’s eyes with mud, and instruct him to wash in the Pool of Siloam. Why not just speak a word of healing so that the man could instantaneously receive his sight, just like Jesus had done in the case of blind Bartimaeus? Then one day it dawned on me: the man in John 9 needed to prove to Jesus that he had faith in Him.

Time and time again in the Gospels, just like in the case of blind Bartimaeus, people came to Jesus for solutions to their problems. In those cases, before healing them, Jesus stated that “according to their faith” He was healing them. Such examples teach us a wonderful truth: in many cases (if not most), God wants us to demonstrate faith in Him before He will demonstrate His power in our lives.

In cases of healing like those of Bartimaeus, the healed ones had already demonstrated their faith by coming to Jesus in the first place, and this is why in such cases all Jesus had to do was speak a word of healing. In John 9, the blind man had not approached Jesus asking for help. Rather, Jesus saw the blind man’s need and approached him with an offer of healing. But in order to unlock God’s power in his life, Jesus required the blind man to exercise his faith by obeying the simple command to go wash in the Pool of Siloam. There was no magic in the mud, nor was their any magic in the Pool. The “magic” was in the blind man’s exercise of faith, and immediately upon his obedience to Christ’s commands, Christ healed him.

Our God is a merciful God, and He can certainly exercise His mercy in our lives whether or not we demonstrate faith in Him. Sometimes He chooses to do so. But most of the time, God requires us to exercise our faith before He exercises His mercy, and He does this for a very important reason: to build our relationship with Him. Every dear relationship is based on a foundation of trust, and it is through the times where we exercise faith that our trust in God is strengthened. As our trust in God strengthens, so does our relationship with Him. What better outcome could their be from any circumstance in life but that our relationship with our Father grow nearer and dearer?

When the opporunities to exercise faith come into your life, don’t fret them. Welcome them. Through those circumstances, you have the glorious privilege of drawing closer to your Savior.