Christ comes by us and we must respond. If not he will continue without stopping. God gave this bind man enough awareness of the presence of the Lord, for him to cry out for help. That opportunity would not have lasted for long, and he had to make the most of it. In his kindness, God draws near to us at times in our lives. This is not just proximity to a church where the gospel is preached, or the hearing or reading of the message. The Lord at the same time begins to awaken us out of our deadness, and we see something of the spiritual opportunity which has been given to us. We even sense that the opportunity has to be grasped quickly, because it may not last long. When the Lord begins to speak to us, we may be aware that this is not something natural. Our normal way of thinking would never have given us this illumination. We are beginning to understand things which we have never understood before. It is from the Lord, and we do not know how long this illumination will last, and he will continue to call us. We dare not respond indifferently, but we must stir up our hearts for all we are worth to take hold of Christ and his message.
The blind man was not able to get up and follow Christ down road to hear more of him. He had to respond immediately to the Lord coming past him. The Lord could have passed by at any time of the day. That was not within the control of the blind man. We have to respond to Christ as soon as he draws near to our souls, for we have no power to make him come to us in the first place. It does not matter what we are doing, whether he speaks to us night or day, the powerful approaches of God to the souls are so precious, and we cannot delay for a moment from responding.
But what may have seemed like a random event, was part of the plan of God, made before the creation of the world. The Lord is at work in ways that seem inauspicious, but they are his perfect approach to our souls. He comes to us softly at times, without fanfare. He leaves it for us to sense the significance of the moment, and to rouse ourselves before the opportunity is over. The low-key nature of his passing by is the very means to stir our sense of urgency that we must not fail to call out to him. He leaves that for us to do, while impressing on us by his Spirit, that we have a great need. Every time the gospel is preached and unbelievers are present, it is an urgent opportunity for us to turn to God.