Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Obeying God’s Nonsense
“Just Do It” is Nike’s famous call- to-action slogan recognized around the world. It reminds me of another famous phrase that still echoes from the Bible two thousand plus years after it was uttered.
Jesus had given instructions to perform his first miracle in Cana during a wedding. He ordered wine jars to be filled with water. That baffled the wedding reception workers who thought it made no sense. But Mary the mother of Jesus said to them, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5)
Mary’s piercing words still challenge us today; whatever God told you to do, just do it! It doesn’t have to make sense. And oftentimes it won’t. 1st Corinthians 1:27 says, “God uses the foolish things of the world to confound (or shame) the wise.” He also uses nonsense to test our faith. The blessing is in obeying God no matter how strange or seemingly ridiculous His instructions may be.
Just ask the destitute blind beggar in John 9:6. Jesus spat in the dirt, made mud, rubbed it on the man’s eyes and told him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. By all logical accounts, that was nonsense. But because of his obedience, the man was healed.
God’s divine healing is not just reserved for the physical body. Let’s admit it. God, the Holy Spirit has whispered some amazing, off- the-wall ideas to us; some to cure our ailing finances, or to heal injured relationships. But we hesitate or lollygag, and talk ourselves out of taking action. How many creative, life-changing and God-ordained ideas have you dismissed as crazy? This time why not trust God, and “whatever He said do, just do it.”
The rich young ruler in Scriptures must have thought Jesus was off his rockers the day he met him. He had heard about the charismatic rabbi working miracles and causing quite a buzz around town. So he hunted him down to ask what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. He certainly didn’t expect Jesus to say, “Sell all you have, give it to the poor and come follow me.” That was just insane, he might have thought. The young man went away with a heavy heart. Sadly, he did not realize that you can’t give God anything without getting it back multiple times over, as Luke 18:29-30 makes clear.
Then there was Naaman, the Syrian general. He almost missed his miracle when he dismissed God’s method of healing as nonsense. 2nd Kings 5 describes him as a mighty man of valor. But he was also a leper looking to be cured from the devastating illness. He traveled a long distance to visit the prophet Elisha in Israel. Imagine how insulted he was when Elisha didn’t even come to the door. Instead, the prophet sent a servant to tell Naaman he should go down to the very dirty Jordan river and dip seven times to be healed. Naaman was furious and stormed away quite upset.
Fortunately, a young servant girl challenged him to believe God. The general laid aside his pride, humbled himself and dipped in the dirty Jordan seven times, just as the prophet had instructed. His turning point to a new life of physical and mental health came when he obeyed. He just did it.
You may have faith for your healing, whether mental, physical or spiritual. But faith without works is dead. Your obedience to “just do whatever God instructed you to do” is the works. So no matter how nonsensical God’s command may sound, just do it.
Scripture Of The Day: "His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” - John 2:5 (NKJ)
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