Luke 7:1-9
After Jesus had finished teaching the people, he went to Capernaum. In that town an army officer's servant was sick and about to die. The officer liked this servant very much. And when he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish leaders to ask him to come and heal the servant.
The leaders went to Jesus and begged him to do something. They said, "This man deserves your help! He loves our nation and even built us a meeting place." So Jesus went with them.
When Jesus wasn't far from the house, the officer sent some friends to tell him, "Lord, don't go to any trouble for me! I am not good enough for you to come into my house. And I am certainly not worthy to come to you. Just say the word, and my servant will get well. I have officers who give orders to me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I can say to one of them, `Go!' and he goes. I can say to another, `Come!' and he comes. I can say to my servant, `Do this!' and he will do it."
When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised that he turned and said to the crowd following him, "In all of Israel I've never found anyone with this much faith!"
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
I’ve talked before about repairing broken objects and giving them a new life… especially vintage pieces that I feel tell a story or still have a lot of value. I use a lot of Elmer’s Glue in my projects, and I have to admit, I am not a patient repair person! I will glue two broken pieces together… and before they can “set,” I’ll try to add a third and/or fourth piece. Often all of the pieces come apart, and I have to begin again. I can’t seem to do the repair and walk away, trusting the glue to do it’s job and merge the broken pieces.
This is somewhat how we treat our faith. We ask God to help us… to heal us, give us comfort, work in specific situations… and then we start to meddle and fidget and pick at whatever we’ve supposedly given over to Him. Don’t misunderstand me… I’m not saying that you shouldn’t continue to bring your request before God. But instead of saying – and believing – “Hey, God… remember my problem? Don’t forget now! Please, please, please help me! I hope you won’t let me down!”… we need to shift to “God, I know you are handling this for me, and I thank you! I give you praise for answering even my smallest requests and for caring for me each and every second of the day.”
See… in the first prayer, we really have not trusted God to help us. In the second, we have given the situation over to God… but we are still communicating… still needing His help – but expecting it and thanking Him in advance. The difference is attitude. The soldier in this passage got it… He knew that just a word from God was sufficient for his needs. And we know this too… or we should! Just as the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ garment and was healed, we need to learn to operate in the faith realm that allows us to say, “I’ve spoken to God about this… and He’s on it! I’m moving on and letting Him glue things back together… giving Him time to work… and praising Him ahead of time for handling this.” Getting to this level takes practice – maybe a lifetime of it! – but this is one area where we do need to keep coming back and exercising persistence.
Instead of pestering God about something you’ve already given Him, pester yourself to believe that it’s a done deal - that God has taken care of your situation according to His will… and all is well.
©2011 Debbie Robus
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