Jesus Often Has a Better Idea

There was a time in my life when miracles were fairly common. I have seen people healed of incredible injuries right before my eyes. One of my former students was healed instantly of cystic fibrosis. I could relate many examples of such miracles but that is not the point of this message.

Over the years I noticed fewer and fewer of these obvious miracles and began to wonder why that was so. They seemed to come sporadically without rhyme or reason. At some point in my life I began to realize what this was all about. I reached a point where I had to abandon the selfish thought that I was performing a miracle and realize that only God can actually perform a miracle — -something that is beyond the known laws of science.

As I studied God’s word I began to see that God does not cater to our personal whims but is indeed the Creator and Lord of the universe. We are called to bow to His will, not the other way around.

The Spirit urged me to ponder the time when Jesus received the news that His friend Lazarus was sick and close to death. John tells the story in the eleventh chapter of his gospel revealing the response of Jesus: “So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was” (v. 6). After the two days He said to His disciples “Let us go to Judea again” (v. 7).

So, His friend Lazarus was sick unto death and Jesus knew that He had died before they left to return to Bethany (vv 14, 15).

So why did Jesus delay coming to His friend when He knew that He was dying and would soon be dead? As we study the life of Jesus we learn a crucial truth about Him. Sometimes He has a better idea than we do.

To a group of Jews who were seeking to kill Him because He healed someone on a Sabbath, He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). He assured them that He was not acting independently of His Father but in agreement with His will.

So there you have it — -Jesus was not here to do His own thing but only what He saw His Father doing. He was here to speak and act according to His Father’s will, a dynamic truth of the kingdom of God. We too must learn to hear from God and see what He is doing before we step out in presumption. Then when things don’t match up with our expectations perhaps we won’t blame God for our failure to hear Him. Hearing from God is an essential element of being a follower of Christ (Rev 2;7f: 13:9; Matt 11:15; Mark 4:23).

Jesus healed many but did not heal everyone at the drop of a hat. He had not healed the lame man at the temple gate who had been brought there every day. Jesus passed that way many times but did not heal the man because Jesus had a better idea for when Peter and John would later come that way as emissaries of the kingdom of God. The man was eventually healed in God’s timing.

Paul begged Jesus three times to heal him of what he referred to as an infirmity (2 Cor 12:5, 9, 10). Paul learned that God used this infirmity to remind Paul that His grace is sufficient and that His “strength is made perfect in weakness” (v 9). God often has a better idea than our religious notions. He even works through our weaknesses to produce spiritual strength in our lives.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God,” Paul declared (Rom 8:14). The sons (children) of God know how to be led by the Spirit of God and have learned that there are many voices in the world which would mislead them if God did not have our ear. Religion may scream at us its tenets and the world may even scream louder but the voice of God can be clearly heard in the still, small voice in our spirit (1 Kings 19:12).

God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our ways or thoughts and the sooner we realize that the sooner we will listen for His voice and learn to hear clearly (Isa 55:9). We need to submit our theology and doctrine to Him and His word knowing that the only way to know His ways are to listen for His voice keeping in mind that He never says anything that is not confirmed in His word the Bible.

The bottom line for the true follower of Christ is that we do not belong to ourselves for we have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19, 20). We are bondservants of the Lord because He paid the price to set us free to live in His household and be led, inspired, cared for and empowered by Him (1 Cor 7:23). I can’t count the times I have shared that truth with a believer only to be met with an empty stare of unbelief. Tragically, we have allowed Christianity to become a man-made thing that is under our control allowing us to do as we please without consulting the King.

Jesus often has a better idea about how to move forward in the will of His Father. We have reached a time when we need to bow to the will of God, hear His voice and follow His lead. Religion and the world owe us nothing but to Christ we owe everything.