Ten lepers met Jesus in a village as He was going between Samaria and Galilee. They begged Him to have pity on them and heal them. "When He saw them, He said: "Go show yourselves to the priests." (Lk. 17:14) That was a rather strange instruction!
The duty of priests in this matter was to issue a clean bill of health to the leper so that he could integrate society - because leprosy is contagious. So we assume that it was after they were healed that they would have been entitled to show themselves to a priest.
We read: "And as they went, they were cleansed." (Lk.17: 14b)
These 10 lepers received their healing as they put Jesus' instructions into action - assuming that to show themselves to the priests would be done only after their healing.
Their response to Jesus' order was not only an act of obedience, but an act of great faith. The resultant healing was with respect to the move of obedience they had made. They believed and put their faith into action. They did not question Jesus' instruction. They exercised blind faith. Would they have been checking the state of their bodies every step of the way? That would have been unbelief. It was in the course of the journey that they realised the cleansing had taken place.
Most of us in our daily walk with God would like to see and then believe. God demands that we believe then we will see.
The Bible is fraught with promises which if only we believe could change our circumstances for the better. We would have to train ourselves to believe that God's (Jesus') word will never return to Him void. "So is my Word that goes out of my mouth: It will not return to me void(empty), but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isa.55:11)
Time to throw disbelief out of the window!
