<TITLE>02. Par 5-8</TITLE>L-5 And Bartimaeus had been late getting to his place to beg. And all night long, he'd dreamed that he could see. Something had been very strange about this. He--he dreamed all night, tossed and rolled, that he could once more see again, while we are told that he'd been blind since he was just a young man.
And as the poet puts it, with his ragged coat on, or his little robe, and his sleeves all torn... And it must have been a pathetic sight to see this man after being too late to--to set at the gate to beg for something to eat for that day. Then trying to find himself a rock somewhere to sit down on...
You know, I think blindness is one of the cruelest things that we can think of, a person who cannot see the daylight. And if we can think of the natural blindness, how great that is, how much greater is the spiritual blindness to those who have good eyes and cannot see the promises of God.
And as he was fumbling his way, finally, over in the sunlight, the sun perhaps had not rose high enough yet to give the sun out far from the wall. He finds him a rock and sits down.

L-6 I read a little story some time ago about blind Bartimaeus. He'd said that... I don't know, it perhaps was fiction. But it said that he begged at the gate of Jericho. And he was a married man, and he had a little girl of about twelve years old. And he had never been able to see this little girl. And when he... If you set by the gate and had nothing for an enchantment to attract the attention of the--the people who passed by, it was much harder to get a coin.
As we see today, they'll play a instrument or do something. Recently in India, oh, they have a--a cobra snake that they want to blow a little whistle to charm him, or--or a little monkey to beat them with a stick like they're getting a whipping or something, something to attract the attention.

L-7 Blind Bartimaeus, they said, had two little turtledoves that turned little tumbles over each other. And that would attract the attention of the passer-by.
And also in this day, we find that a blind person is led by a dog that's trained to take them across the street. I just forget what they call that. (What? Seeing eye.) In those days, instead of having a trained dog, they had a trained sheep that led them.
And said that one night, Bartimaeus' wife took real sick. And he went along the side of the house and knelt down after the doctor had left and said that he didn't know what to do for her. And he prayed to God, and he said, "Lord, if You'll just let my dear precious wife get well, I promise You that I will take these two turtledoves and offer them to You for a sacrifice." And his wife got well.

L-8 Some time later, that his little daughter got sick, very seriously ill with a fever. And he went out the side of his house again and prayed, and said, "Lord, I don't have nothing left but my lamb. And if You'll just let my baby live, I promise You that I'll take my lamb and give it as a sacrifice upon the altar." And as the little story goes, that his daughter got well.
On his road up to the church to offer the sacrifice, he met the priest. And he said, "Where goest thou, blind Bartimaeus?"
He said, "Priest, I go to the temple of the Lord to give my lamb for a sacrifice."
And the priest said, "Bartimaeus, thou cannot give this lamb. I'll... This lamb is your eyes. I'll give you the money to buy you a lamb. You go to the stalls and--and buy a lamb and offer it, because this lamb is your eyes."
Blind Bartimaeus said, "I am grateful to thee for this kindness that you're willing to show to me. But, you see, I never offered God a lamb, I offered Him this lamb."
"Well," he said, "you can't do that, because this lamb is your eyes."
He said, "Oh, servant of the Lord, if I will only keep my promise to God, God will provide a lamb for my eyes."
And how true that is. If we'll just keep our promise to God, our vows, and go to our leadings.


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