Weekend Words

From Beside the Still Waters...

Troubling the Master - Read Luke 7:1-10; 8:41-56

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

When the centurion sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus to come to his house and heal his servant, Jesus responded by starting to go in that direction.  As Jesus approached the centurion's residence, He was met by friends of the centurion who had been sent to tell Him not to trouble Himself by coming all the way.  The humble centurion, full of faith, believed that Jesus could do the healing without being present.  And Jesus honored his request.

Jairus came to Jesus himself and begged Him to come and heal his only daughter.  As Jesus went, He was delayed by a woman with another need for healing.  Death overtook Jairus's daughter in the meantime, and someone told Jairus to not trouble the Master any further.  But Jesus went anyway and restored the daughter to life.

Is Jesus inconvenienced or bothered by responding to our requests?  While in His earthly body, He likely became weary from exerting Himself for the good of so many people.  But He never turned anyone away.  Now He is in Heaven with His resurrected body which knows no limitations.  He is not troubled by our requests, whether great or small.  We can "come boldly" before Christ to "obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).  If we are among those who "labor and are heavy laden," we can come to Him and find rest (Matthew 11:28).  When we're spiritually thirsty, we can respond to His invitation that we come to him and drink (John 7:37).

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" (Isaiah 40:28).

- Dennis Martin - Unionville, MO

From Behold the Lilies...

"But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." - 2 Kings 5:11

Poor disillusioned Naaman.  Even though he was a mighty man of valor and the captain of Syria's army, he had a few lessons to learn.  He needed to learn that great things sometimes happen in ordinary ways, and not always dramatically or instantaneously.

God provides opportunities for us to learn similar lessons.  If He would take away the pain immediately when I ask Him to, I would not learn all the lessons that can be learnt only through pain.  That is why the Lord does not always provide an instant, glorious deliverance from a problem, a perplexity, or even a temptation that I long to be delivered from.  If the Lord would instantly provide a way out of every unpleasant circumstance, I would not learn to trust Him to see me through.  If the Lord would immediately hand me everything I ask for, I would not learn contentment.  If He would provide instant victory in every trial, I would not learn to wait on Him.  If He would always give me on-the-spot answers, I would become proud and arrogant.  If I never felt the weight of burdens, I could not help others bear their burdens.

Naaman needed to learn that the answer to his problem lay in his obedience, not in his prestige.  We also need to realize that.  In addition, we need to realize that at times we need to go through a learning process more than we need an instant answer.