Friday, March 24, 2017

Trusting God Beyond Reason

God doesn't need my help to figure out how to take care of my needs.


John 4:46-50 As he traveled through Galilee, he came to Cana, where he had turned the water into wine.

There was a government official in nearby Capernaum whose son was very sick. 47  When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged Jesus to come to Capernaum to heal his son, who was about to die.

48  Jesus asked, "Will you never believe in me unless you see miraculous signs and wonders?"

49  The official pleaded, "Lord, please come now before my little boy dies."

50  Then Jesus told him, "Go back home. Your son will live!" And the man believed what Jesus said and started home.

Who was this government official that was so humble that he didn't send for Jesus but rather he inconvenienced himself and made the journey to Cana?

This guy has a plan and he is determined to make it happen. He believed in his plan enough to make the trip to Cana so that he could have Jesus come to his home and perform a miracle. He had faith that Jesus could heal him but then Jesus tested his faith and told him to go back home with nothing but a promise.

Imagine going home empty handed without Jesus. This guy's plans didn't work out, he doesn't have Jesus coming back to heal his son, all he has is Jesus promise that it is handled.  If I were there I probably would have wanted a house call from Jesus, something tangible that I could use to explain how my request was going to be fulfilled, but this guy took Jesus at his word and walked away with nothing.

Wouldn't that be a long walk back home? What would he say to his friends and family as he got closer to home? Faith steps into the unknown because Jesus said so. I would probably wonder if I did the right thing when I walked away from Jesus or if I should have insisted that he come with me.

Sometimes we ask God to work but we also want to tell him how to do it, we try and take control or give God some advice on some of the options that are available, we have to remind ourselves that God is God and he is going to do things that are beyond our reasoning and if he says that he has taken care of something then it is done. 
With the opportunities that we have of knowing the whole life of Christ, and understanding the doctrines of the gospel as they are revealed to us in the New Testament, with many years of observation and experience, our faith ought to be much stronger than it is.
- Charles Spurgeon
It is a shame that we have so much revelation about Jesus and yet we find it difficult to trust him. The people of Jesus day didn't have a bunch of Bibles on their shelves at home, they didn't have the fellowship of believers and they didn't have the death and resurrection to strengthen their faith in him, we have so much more reason to believe today and yet we have weak faith.
Jeremiah 17:5,7 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence."
I need to live by faith and not by sight, not in the things that I can figure out on my own, not in telling God how to do it but allowing him to have complete control.

Help us to have faith and trust in you every day for every detail of our lives, I want to trust you even when it doesn't seem reasonable.