Daily devotion – who is in charge?
Jhn 4:49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
Jhn 4:50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.
How often are you giving instructions to the Lord? Directing Him?
In Matthew’s Gospel chapter we have a Roman Centurion who had sickness in his house. He was a Roman citizen, a man of position and political power but he came seeking Jesus.
“My servant is dying,” said the Centurion.
Jesus said, “I will come to your house and heal him.”
The Centurion said to Jesus, “I am not worthy to have you come to my house,” – “Just speak the word.”
Jesus marvelled at this Roman Centurion’s faith!
But in John 4, the nobleman directed Jesus to go to his house. Although Jesus did heal his son, Jesus did not comply with the nobleman’s order to go to his house.
How often are we guilty of the nobleman’s error – that of giving directions to Jesus?
For example, “Lord I have a stack of bills, You have to sort this out.”
Or, “Lord I have a great idea for a business, this is genius, so bless it by next week.”
“Lord, we have a great program we want to run at Church, bless it!”
We, often unawares, each have a tendency to instruct our Lord, direct Him, but that is not the finest or highest way to approach Jesus. The Centurion in Matthew 8 was so much wiser and teaches us how to live by faith. He simply said, “Lord here is the problem, the need.”
There were no directions, no instructions, no advice.
Both men experienced the healing power of Jesus but only one caused our Lord to marvel!