>Hymn 467: Trust and Obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

>John 2:1-12. Jesus was at this wedding in Cana and they ran out of wine. oh no. So Mary, his mom, asked Jesus to take care of it. He initially said, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not come.” She basically ignored him and told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do. He told them to fill several 20-30 gallon jars with water. So “They filled them to the brim.” They obeyed unquestioningly. I’d say it is comparable to God telling Noah to build a boat on dry land. Would you not say, “What? We are out of WINE, yet you want us to fill these with water…?” They did not ask such questions, they just did it. Next, Jesus told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So “They took it.” It doesn’t say that they tested the drink, sniffed or investigated it, they just “took it.” I’ll elaborate on this later- i want to finish the story. After the servants brought out the wine, the master asked the bridegroom why he had kept the best wine for last, usually the good wine is served first and the poor wine last after everyone has been drinking for a while. haha.
Have the obedience of a servant with unflagging faith in his master. The servants at Cana just did what Jesus said, even though it made no sense and they didn’t know why they were doing it. But they didn’t care, they were selfless servants made to serve, (“You are not your own. You were bought with a price.” 1 Corinth. 6:20.) Then Jesus turned the jars of water into wine! Need he perform miracles for me to believe in Him? When he tells you to do something, don’t just do it, fill it to the brim because your faith is so steadfast, not just halfway as if buffering a hazard. As Pine Cove workers would say, “Bump the Lamp.” Read James 1 about Faith. I have another example. Acts 8:26-40. Philip was not a literal servant to a master like the jar fillers, but he obeyed the command of the Angel of the Lord like a servant. God told him to “Rise and go to [this road in this desert]” without reason or explanation. The next sentence looks like those written about the servants at Cana and about David in 1 Samuel 23: 2-5 & 9-13 and 2 Samuel 5:19-20 and 23-25. “And he rose and went.” Faith. When he was on the road he came upon a chariot. The Angel of the Lord said, “Go over and join this chariot.” “So Philip ran to it.” He ran. He didn’t tiptoe around the chariot and investigate it to see if the guy in it looked shady or unsafe. He ran; that means he went without hesitation. The man in the chariot was reading the book of Isaiah, and asked him to explain the story to him; so Philip explained Isaiah’s prophesies, shared the gospel, and baptized the guy. Cool! God used Philip because Philip was willing to make himself an unquestioning servant, obeying God’s commands without hesitation or any need for logical explanation; and he did not wait for further preparation. As soon as God said “go,” he went. Oswald Chambers writes to us on in the Feb. 20 devo of My Utmost for His Highest, “Dreaming about things to do them properly is right, but dreaming about them when you should be doing is wrong… Always beware of giving over to mere dreaming once God has spoken. Leave Him to be the source of all your joys and dreams and delights, and go out and obey what He has said. If you are in love, you do not sit down and dream about the one you love all the time, you go and do something for her; and that is what Jesus Christ expects us to do. Dreaming after God has spoken is an indication that we do not trust Him.” Philip was not his own and he did not presume to live as if he was. This is what it is to live as a servant. We have to be willing to be used in seemingly odd and often times risky ways in order to be really used. Listen, trust, and obey.

Pinterest

Facebook

Twitter

Email