Why?

 “'About Jesus of Nazareth,' they replied.

'He was a prophet,

powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.  The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 

but we had hoped that he was the one

who was going to redeem Israel.

And what is more,

it is the third day since all this took place.'"

Luke 24:19-21

Have you ever thought you knew what God was doing in a certain situation only to be completely confused when things didn't go the way you had expected?

This has happened to me.  Not because I think I'm so smart as to know the mind of God.  Rather, I like to know why I am doing things.  This desire leads me to ask God, "Why?" 

It's like the time we were looking for a house with which to expand our afterschool program.  As we drove through our neighborhood one day, a house which had been on the market for at least 2 years beckoned us to come with it's door standing wide open.  We interpreted that to mean this was the house for our program!  We rejoiced and began taking steps toward purchasing, trusting that God would provide the funding.

We spent much time praying over that house, at God's direction.  We prayed for all the children whose lives would be changed under that roof.  Then we prayed for a way to purchase it.  Finally came the day when the Realtor told me she had a buyer.  I trusted that God had a plan.  The family moved in and I was confused.  Things hadn't gone the way I expected.

A few months later I met a woman up at our neighborhood pool.  After talking for a few minutes, I realized she was the one who had moved into the home we had been praying over.  She and her husband had adopted two children and were raising four in all.  I stood in awe as she told me how she invited children in for story time and how they were always looking for ways to reach kids for Jesus.  It was then that I understood and I tearfully told her that we had been praying for her for months before they moved into their home.  The house was not for us, but it was being used for God's Kingdom just as much as it would have been with our afterschool program.

Instead of asking, "Why?"  I need to ask, "Who?"  And the answer to that question is always, "God."  I need to trust God for the answers.

Suffering Woman

She had been bleeding for years. . . .twelve to be exact, and no one had ever been able to help her. In fact, all of the experts had only made the bleeding worse.   But this Jesus of Nazareth. . .He was different.  She knew deep within her heart that He could heal her, if only she could get to Him.  So many people pressed around Him, vying for His attention.  She need only touch Him. . . even the hem of His garment. . . and she would be free from this affliction.  She knew this as much as she knew that the sun would rise each day. 

The woman with the issues of blood possessed deep faith in Jesus.  She didn't care to know why she was suffering.   She didn't bother to ask, "Why me?"  Instead, she came to the One who could truly help her.  She trusted that He was the ultimate remedy.  All she needed was Jesus.

This is why Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”  (Mark 5:34)

Trusting Jesus means believing He is the only remedy needed to free me from any problem.  I need not understand, I only need faith enough to leave the details to Him.

Healing at the Pool of Bethesda

Albert Einstein is credited with saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting different results.  I'm not sure if the poor fellow who spent his days at the pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem could be diagnosed with insanity, but he sure did not give up! 

The man in question had been disabled for 38 years, and it can be assumed that he had spent quite a number of his days at the pool of Bethesda where angels are said to have stirred the waters from time to time, giving the first person who entered the waters instant healing.  He had lain there year after year, hoping to one day be the first to enter the freshly stirred waters, but never having anyone to help him get there fast enough.  He never gave up hope in the healing properties of this pool.

Then came Jesus, his only real hope, if only the suffering man had known.  But no matter. . . Jesus healed him despite the man's ignorance of His identity as the Son of God whose power could change a mortal's life with a mere word.   

Unlike the woman healed by touching the hem of Jesus' robe, this man did not know Jesus, and never expected healing to come from anywhere besides the pool.  He was putting all his faith in those waters and the angels that stirred them.  

How often do I go after things that I think will help me, only to be disappointed by the outcome.  Doing things my way without giving God a chance to bring healing will always frustrate me. 

Trusting Jesus means going directly to Him with my issues. My hope lies in Him and Him alone.  I am reminded in Lamentations 3:25 that, "The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him."

Disciples

  

The One they had left everything to follow had been brutally killed, was dead and buried.  All there hope was gone.  What kind of a Savior was He with all His talk of coming to save the world and all?  Dead men are able to save no one.

Or so they thought.  Little did the disciples know that God had a plan that included the crucifixion of Christ as a way to atone for their sins.  Little did they know that Jesus had risen from the dead and was speaking to them at their greatest point of despair.  Little did they know that they had already been saved.

Circumstances can blind me to the reality of God's plan.  Things seem hopeless.  Despair sets in.  But underneath it all is a tapestry of great beauty.  The disciples did not understand the purpose for all the suffering their Friend and Teacher had endured.  But there was a purpose.

Trusting Jesus means believing He has a plan, even when I don't see it.

It's easy for me to think I have things all figured out.  But trusting Jesus means leaving behind my desire to understand "why?" and instead letting Him handle the details.  It means placing all my hope in Him, and believing He has a plan in all things, no matter how hopeless it seems. 

Trusting God means never asking, "Why?"

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can trust Jesus with the plan that lies beneath the mess of my life.

When do I place all my trust in other things instead of leaving it all in Jesus' hands?

What am I expecting to happen that has nothing to do with God's plan and instead has everything to do with mine?

The Divider

"Do not suppose

that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I did not come to bring peace,

but a sword."

Matthew 10:34

Jesus would not have won the Nobel Peace Prize.  The winner of the prestigious award should have, in the words of Alfred Nobel*, "...done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." 

Instead, Jesus came to turn, "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household." (Matthew 10:35-36)  The reason for this division is simple.  There is no fence-sitting when it come to Jesus.  His words as recorded in Matthew 12:30 proclaim, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."  I must make a choice; "Yea" or "Nay."

My Will or His Will

Jesus is a divider in the way He requires His followers to not just know about Him, but to choose to follow in His footsteps by obeying our heavenly Father at all costs.  Jesus did not have the problem that I do of choosing His own comfort above His Father's will. 

Even when faced with abandonment by the ones He loved, humiliating and torturous treatment all ending with an excruciating death on a cross and separation for a time from His Father, Jesus chose obedience. He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

I am faced with this dilemma throughout my day.  Do I listen to the still small Voice telling me to not buy that certain something that I've wanted for a long time and finally have the money to purchase?  How about when a desperate neighbor rings my doorbell when I'm in the middle of something important and don't want to be bothered?  Or when it's pouring down rain and I'm late for an appointment, passing by the mother and three children walking alongside the road?

Jesus pits my will against that of His Father's.  It's a choice between my will or His will.

My Flesh or His Righteousness

I have often heard it said, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And in fact, this is what Jesus said to his disciples as recorded in Mark 14:38 when they were struggling to stay awake and pray for Him in the Garden of Gethsemane before He was taken away.  Later, the apostle Paul addressed this problem with the weakness of our flesh.

Paul explained the cycle of futility in which we want to do what is right, but our flesh desires the opposite.  He concludes with, "So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." (Romans 7:25) 

The good news is that we are freed as slaves to sin! But that only means I am not forced to follow my fleshly desires.  I have a choice to prefer God's righteousness over my natural inclinations.  But it's still a choice.

I am often faced with this quandary.  Do I give into the frustrations that well up within me when things don't go my way, or do I turn to my Father and instead focus on Him and His hand in my life?  Do I continue eating because it tastes so good and I don't feel satisfied with what I've already consumed, or do I look to the Father for genuine contentment?  Do I draw my sense of security from the money I have saved up and the investments I have made, trusting in these things to give me a secure future, or do I trust my Father to supply all my needs by giving it all away to those who need it now?

Jesus pits my natural inclinations against His Spirit.  It's a choice between walking in the flesh or walking in His Spirit.

My Heart or His Heart

My heart is often filled with anxiety, judgmentalism, and fear.  It's not a pretty place.  Even though I often hear the advice to follow my heart, God teaches otherwise in Jeremiah 17:9.  "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (KJV)  I have a choice to follow my heart which will lead me away from God and His ways, or I can follow the heart of Jesus. 

Jesus taught me to, ". . . not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me." (John 14:1)  Putting my trust in Jesus means choosing His heart over mine.  Where was Jesus' heart?  It was with the downcast, the poor, the outcasts of society.  He came to save the lost, not those who think they already have it all together.

Who do I choose to hang out with?  It is usually with people like me, people who desire to grow closer to God and learn more about Him.  People who have a similar upbringing, beliefs and values.  In essence, people with whom I am comfortable.

What about the drug addict who sits on his front porch at all hours of the day and night, alone and despondent?  Or the single mom struggling to raise her children on her own?  Or the Muslim family who prays five times a day to a god made of stone?  Are these people I would choose to hang out with as Jesus did, revealing His heart?

Jesus pits my heart against His heart.  It's a choice between following my deceitful heart, or going after the things that touch the heart of Jesus.

Following Jesus is not easy.  It is filled with difficult choices that take me to the will, the desires and the heart.  I can take comfort in knowing that the struggle is not in vain, however, for it will bring me a crown of life!

As I begin this day, it is my prayer that I can choose Jesus above all other things.

Where do I follow my heart, desires and comfort without giving a second thought to God?

How often do I seek God's will throughout the day rather than functioning on auto-pilot, choosing to do what comes naturally? 

* http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/