The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. -John 4:49-53 NRSV
How do you think you would have reacted if Jesus refused to come back to minister to your dying son? Some would have gotten angry and lashed out. This father's reaction was to believe what Jesus spoke to him. I find this amazing. Yet in another sense convicting because I am not sure that my response would have been one of believing Jesus.
It is so easy to read a passage like this and not let it sink in. The official responded by trusting Jesus. And, in a sense, he was trusting the word of Jesus regardless the outcome. It speaks to me of my need to trust the Lord with all of my heart when I so want to lean on what my head is telling me. It also tells me that I need to leave healing with God.
Help me Lord to walk away from this moment of prayer and simply believe what you are speaking to me.
... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on the Gospel of John.
Yes, He is the true physician, and the ultimate healer.
ReplyDeleteSo true Denise. I love the idea of God being Jehovah Rapha.
DeleteTrusting what God says is sometimes a very hard thing for me. Sometimes it's because I doubt that I am actually hearing him rather than my own voice.
ReplyDeleteI can so resonate with that Fred. Discerning the whispers in our hearts from those in our heads can be so hard.
DeleteThis account, this kind of faith exposes us. I appreciate your honesty. I am also reminded of the three Hebrew boys facing death in a furnace. They said, "we know our God will save us but even if He doesn't we will not bow." I aim for faith that believes God will and is fully committed to Him if it doesn't happen the way I expect.
ReplyDeleteSo true Jason. Living for Jesus can draw out a courage from our deepest being that, like those three boys, will cause us to stand in the face of adversity.
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