There’s a lot of things in life that I won’t believe until I see it happen, and even if I see it, sometimes that isn’t enough! I’m a bit of a Doctor Who fan, so if you’re not bare with me. A couple of seasons ago we saw the Doctor shot dead in the first episode of the season by a mystery astronaut next to a lake somewhere in America. We then proceeded to see the events leading up to that death with everyone apart from the doctor knowing it was coming (that’s time travel for you, dangerous!!). Anyway, for the whole season, right up until the final moments of the last episode we were told the doctor is dead, the doctor is dead, but something in me didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe the doctor could be dead. Of course, he wasn’t, but the point I am making is that I’m a natural skeptic, I find it really difficult believing things unless I see them or experience them myself, and I think part of that comes down to trust.
We’ve all been let down, some more than others, and that leads us to lose faith in people and to stop trusting anything that isn’t straight in front of us, and even then we may not be convinced!
In the book of John, we are given 7 signs of Jesus throughout the book, all pointing to who Jesus was and the purpose of his ministry. The first one I talked about in my last post and the second is found in John 4 and addresses this issue of trust and faith in things we can’t see.
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“So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ And he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.”
Here we see not only an incredible healing but an incredible act of faith. This official, probably a roman guard or something, asks Jesus to come and heal his son in a nearby town. Jesus essentially says, “no, why do you need to see me do it, it’s done, go home”. OK, maybe not that bluntly, but I like to be dramatic! Anyway, the official’s son was healed and because of that, the whole of his household believed, that’s pretty good work for a healing Jesus wasn’t even present at!
The official decided to choose to trust, and because he did, because he believed even though he couldn’t see, Jesus healed his son. I know in my life, there are situations where I ask God to do something and can’t see any evidence that he’s doing it. Whether that’s when praying for somebody to be healed, or praying that I’ll get that job, choosing to trust is when in the midst of our doubt we choose to place our faith in something greater.
It’s interesting to note that the official asks Jesus to come with him and heal his son, but Jesus doesn’t. Jesus chose to work from a distance. Just because you ask God to do something doesn’t mean he’ll do it in the way you’re used to or expect him too, God is not bound by our preconceptions.
It’s also important to point out that sometimes God doesn’t answer our prayer at all in the way we expected. Sometimes people aren’t healed, sometimes we won’t get that job. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray, and doesn’t mean we shouldn’t choose to trust, it means that we live in a broken world, but God is working to bring his kingdom through and in us.
Choosing to trust is about letting God bring his kingdom into that situation. Whether it’s a healing or a job, we can be rest assured that choosing to trust even when we can’t see what’s happening WILL lead to change. Romans 8 reminds us that God has our best interests at heart and will always work for our good, however sometimes that’s not in the ways we expect it.
Whatever our situation, the exciting thing about this passage is that if we choose to trust, God can bring his kingdom into any situation. Small or big, visible or invisible, we can know that our prayers will make a difference because we know that, seeing is believing, but believing is not always seeing. However when we choose to trust, we will see change in our situations because God is for us and working all things for our good!
