"A Simple Answer"

"And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Matthew 11:3-5

John the Baptist was in prison, and he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask Him if He was the one to come (the Messiah) or should they look for another. The verses above are Jesus' reply to John's question. Have you ever noticed that Jesus rarely answered enquiring questions with a simple "yes" or "no"? All He had to do was tell John, "Yes, I am."

 

Why does He do that? God does what He wants to do, when He wants to do it, and how He wants to do it including the way He answers our questions. When He does though, it is always in the best way-- whether we think so or not. In John's case, he already knew the answer. The Father had already spoken to him from heaven at the Jordan River. Jesus' answer was one that would reinforce and reaffirm what John already knew. 

 

There have been times when I have asked the Lord something, wanting a simple "yes" or "no" but that is not how He answered me either. Like John, it is easy for us to question what we already know when things get tough, when they aren't going according to plan, or when they aren't happening the way we thought they would or in the time frame in which we thought they would. By giving us His answer in such a way, it is meant to reaffirm, reinforce, encourage, help fortify our faith and give clarity to the situation. I can remember as a child traveling in the car and asking my parents, "Are we there yet?". When they answered, "no", I felt like we would never get there. But when they answered with an explanation, it gave me a reference point to look for and would let me know that the journey was almost over. When the Lord answers us in this fashion, it too gives us a reference point and helps bring us back in focus-- focus on what He has already said instead of the situation-- and reinforces our faith. 

 

Don't get discouraged or angry if the Lord doesn't give you a simple "yes" or "no" answer. He is answering you in a way that is for your best and it will give you an anchor of faith to hold on to in the midst of your situation.

 

Have a great day. God doesn't always answer us with a simple "yes" or "no", but His answer is far better for us. 

 

For further reading:

Matthew 3:16,17

Hebrews 10:23

 

"Almost Missed It"

"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." John 4:35

One day Jesus told His disciples that He needed to go to Samaria. When they got there, the disciples went into the city to buy meat. While they were gone Jesus sat at a well and had a conversation with a woman of Samaria. As a result of their conversation this woman accepted Jesus as the Messiah who was to come. She then left her water pots and went to the city to tell others. The disciples came back with the food. Upon encouraging Him to eat, He replied that He had meat to eat that they knew not of. They began to question and wonder if someone had brought Him something to eat already. He corrected them and told them that His meat was to do the will of the Father and finish His work. Then Jesus said to them, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." 

 

What was this meat? To do the will of the Father and finish His work. What was the will and work? To seek and to save that which was lost. His meat was spiritual in nature and He was fulfilling it. The disciples were taking care of natural things-- buying food. Jesus said to them to lift up their eyes because the harvest is already white and needs picking. When they physically looked around them, they saw a whole city coming to Jesus. The harvest was right there in front of them but they didn't see it. They almost missed it because they were focused on natural things- food. They were focused on trying to figure out where Jesus had already gotten food. They were in the middle of the harvest field and didn't even realize it. They were blinded spiritually by the physical.

 

I wonder if we aren't like those disciples? There is a harvest field around us, there are souls that are "ripe" waiting to be "picked", God is moving in our midst and we are focused on natural things. Are we more concerned with trying to figure out natural events that are occurring around us than we are with seeing what is happening spiritually? Are we missing what is spiritually taking place because we are more concerned with physical things? Has the physical blinded us to the spiritual? 

 

The disciples almost missed one of the greatest works of God-- the salvation of a whole city-- because they were concerned about natural things. Are we missing what the Lord is doing in our midst because we are more concerned as well with natural things?

 

Have a great day. Are natural things blinding us from seeing what is happening spiritually right in front of our eyes?

 

For further reading:

John 4

"Jephthah's Daughter"

"And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering." Judges 11:30,31

We have heard many sermons preached about Jephthah mostly because of the vow he made to the Lord. In my opinion, it was a very "stupid" vow. What did he expect to come out of his house to meet him after the battle? Did he keep cows, goats, sheep or horses in his house? Naturally, it would have been either his wife or daughter. This story has been preached on numerous occasions because there is so much that we can learn from the foolishness of Jephthah. But this morning I don't want to focus on him. I want to focus on his less familiar daughter. 

 

We don't know much about her-- just a couple of verses. She isn't even named in the scriptures. She is simply "Jephthah's daughter". In my opinion, again, she- not her father- is the main character of the story. We have this young girl who was placed in a situation because of someone else. Her father made a vow that would affect her entire life. She would never marry because of it. She would spend the rest of her life childless. She would miss out on the opportunity of perhaps being the one chosen to bear the Messiah, all because of her father's foolish vow. 

 

The most remarkable thing we see from her story is the fact that she could have become bitter and angry. She could have rebelled. She could have chosen not to honor her father's vow and do what her own heart desired. She could have turned on her father and hated him. But she didn't. Yes, she cried over what was happening to her, but she did not get in self-pity. In those couple of verses, we see her gratitude and praise to the Lord for His delivering power. We see her love for her nation. We see her honor for her father. We see her surrender to the Lord. We see her humility. We see her dedicated relationship with the Lord. 

 

Do any of us see ourselves in her life? How would we react had it been us instead of her? What would our reaction say about our relationship with the Lord? Are we as willing as she was to honor God even when something is done against us? Even when someone else's actions change our lives? How many of us even keep the vows we make to the Lord personally, much less one that we have been unwillingly brought into by someone else? There is a lot we can learn from this unnamed young girl about humility, Christ-like attitude and surrender to the service of the Lord. Will we learn it?

 

Have a great day. How do you react when something that someone else does affects your entire life? What does that reaction say about your relationship with the Lord? 

 

For further reading:

Judges 11

"Recognizing His Voice"

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27 

Have you ever been somewhere and heard a voice and immediately knew who it was even without seeing their face because you recognized the voice? I have. When my phone rings and the name of the person calling doesn't show up on the ID, once they say something I know who it is. There are people that I have become acquainted with because they come into our ministry store, and though we were once strangers I will recognize their voice when I hear it in another store. 

 

Out of all the voices that we recognize is the Lord's one of them? If we are His "sheep"- if we are His followers- we should have no trouble recognizing His voice. Being able to recognize a person's voice comes as a result of spending time not only talking to them but listening to them. It is the same way with being able to recognize the voice of our Good Shepherd. We are only able to recognize His voice if we are spending time with Him. 

 

We learn His voice through talking with Him in prayer-- or should I say, by listening to Him when we pray. Most of our prayers consist of us doing all the talking. We give God our "to do" list; we tell Him what we want; we give Him our "wish" list; we spend the whole time talking and rarely do any listening. You learn another person's voice by hearing it. When your voice is the only one you hear, that is the only voice you become acquainted with. 

 

We also learn His voice through His Word. The Bible isn't just a book of facts and figures about God, it is God speaking to us through its pages. The Bible is the Living Word- Jesus- written down on paper. Through it we know what He likes, dislikes, what He requires, what His will is, what His is like, how gracious, kind, loving and how just He is. 

 

How familiar are you with His voice? It should be the most important voice for us to know. It should be the voice that we desire to know above all other voices. We should be more acquainted with His than we are with anyone else's. We should recognize it more readily than any other voice. And we will if we will spend time with Him learning it.

 

Have a great day. How acquainted are you with the voice of God?

 

For further reading:

John 1:1

Genesis 3:8

Song of Solomon 2:14

 

"Behold Jesus"

"Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!" John 19:5 

When Pilate brought Jesus forth to stand before the crowds, he said to them, "Behold the man!" In other words, "Look at this man!" As we look more closely at what Pilate said, there is a question that arises in his statement. The question being, "Look at Him, what do you see?" 

 

Pilate saw a man who was hated to the point that the religious leaders wanted Him dead. He also saw a man who was innocent of any crime. The soldiers that beat Him saw another criminal upon which to inflict their cruelty. The religious leaders saw Him as one who was a threat to their power and influence over the people. Some saw Him as a king who would deliver them from Roman oppression. Some in the crowd saw Him as a dreamer. Some saw Him as a teacher. Others saw Him as a miracle worker who had healed them of their disease. There were those who saw Him as a rebel bringing in a new philosophy and going against the old established ways. Some saw Him as the Messiah. Some saw Him as just another man, while others saw Him as God.

 

There were many different views of who He was among those in the crowd that day, but what others believe about Jesus isn't what is the most important thing. The most important for you is-- what do you believe about "this man". It brings us back to a question that Jesus asked His disciples earlier in His ministry-- "who do you say that I am?".

 

It is not about what the crowds say, other individuals say, the religious leaders say, your parents say or the political leaders of the day say... it is about what you say. Pilate missed who Jesus was. The religious leaders missed who Jesus was. Many in the crowd missed who Jesus was. If we miss who Jesus is then we lose out on everything-- eternal life. When the culmination of the end of this world as we know it comes, their is only going to be one answer that will be the right answer to the question of, "Behold, Jesus, who is He?" That answer will be the same one that Peter gave-- "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God". "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10,11)

 

Many in the crowd the day of His crucifixion may not have recognized who He was, for them their opportunity is gone. But you and I still have the opportunity today to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Will you? Have you? When the question is asked, what will you say? Who will you say that He is? 

 

Have a great day. What do you see when you "behold Jesus"? 

 

For further reading:

Mark 8:25-29