The Strangest Prayer

There once was a man with a sorrow so deep,
Whose skin told a story nobody would keep.
He shuffled where the healthy couldn’t stay,
An outcast, unwanted, forever far away.

Then he heard about Jesus passing through,
A healer, a teacher. Could the stories be true?
With courage he gathered what little he had,
A hope in his heart and his affliction so bad.

He went and fell with his face to the ground,
Where mercy and majesty surely did abound.
He didn’t cry or shout, making a demand.
He just looked up with a trembling hand.

“O Lord, I know your power is so great,
You speak and even the storms hesitate.
You can make me clean. I know it’s true.
I know you can… but do you want to?”

Now most people wouldn’t say such a prayer—
No claim and no challenge, no “this isn’t fair.”
No pounding the ground, no staking a claim,
He trusted Jesus to do right, just the same.

Jesus looked with compassion wide,
Not pulling away, not stepping aside.
He reached out and touched him right there.
The untouchable man felt a touch full of care.

“I will,” Jesus said, with a voice calm and clear.
No thunder, no lightning—yet heaven drew near.
“Be clean,” he said. And by heaven’s decree,
The leprosy vanished, and the man was set free.

What can we learn from a prayer so small?
Just that faith doesn’t have to demand at all.
We can trust God’s grace, his wisdom, his way—
And accept his answer, come what may.

So when you are burdened and don’t understand,
And life doesn’t follow the course you had planned,
Remember this prayer—so simple, so true:
“God can… and he’ll do… what is best for you.”