The Lights Are Out, Call the Plumber
Recently, a friend of mine told me of the ordeal she had to go through to get a few lights in her home to function properly. To make a long story short, it wasn't until the contractor, electrician, plumber, and roofer had all been out to the house that they were able to solve the problem, which as it turns out wasn't with the lights at all. As is usually the case, she ended the story by saying, "Two days later, our air conditioning broke."
When something breaks, we generally know how to solve the issue. Problem with plumbing? Call the plumber. TV not working? Contact the cable company. There was a good reason my friend and her mom didn't immediately call the roofer when their lights stopped working.
However, as in the case of my friend, the solution we think is best is not always what we actually need. For example, fear tells us not to do things, but sometimes the best solution to overcoming our obstacles is doing the things we are afraid of.
The Bible is wrought with cases of people misunderstanding the solution they need, but perhaps the most prevalent instance is in the case of Jesus healing the paralytic. When a paralyzed man was brought before Jesus, the crowd probably expected him to heal the man's ailment, as was his usual practice. Instead, Jesus looked at the man and said, "Your sins are forgiven."
Can you imagine being there when he said that? What would you think? "The audacity! He's a paralyzed man, he needs to be physically healed! Do you think he's worried about his sins?" But unlike us, Jesus understood the thing this man required most wasn't the healing touch of a savior, but the soothing balm of grace.
Sometimes I believe we feel a bit like the paralyzed man must have. We hope for something, dream about it, imagine it, only to have our perspective shattered when things don't turned out as we had planned. This is especially true when we pray for things; God always answers, but sometimes the answer is "no."
Does this mean we will be forever disappointed in how things have turned out for us? I don't believe so. Often, when God doesn't do what we expect, it's because he has greater plans. The paralytic did eventually walk away from the encounter on his own two legs, but he also left with the knowledge that one day he would be able to walk beside his Creator. Perhaps we should all take a lesson from the paralytic: sometimes no isn't an unexpected end, it's an unexpected beginning.
When something breaks, we generally know how to solve the issue. Problem with plumbing? Call the plumber. TV not working? Contact the cable company. There was a good reason my friend and her mom didn't immediately call the roofer when their lights stopped working.
However, as in the case of my friend, the solution we think is best is not always what we actually need. For example, fear tells us not to do things, but sometimes the best solution to overcoming our obstacles is doing the things we are afraid of.
The Bible is wrought with cases of people misunderstanding the solution they need, but perhaps the most prevalent instance is in the case of Jesus healing the paralytic. When a paralyzed man was brought before Jesus, the crowd probably expected him to heal the man's ailment, as was his usual practice. Instead, Jesus looked at the man and said, "Your sins are forgiven."
Can you imagine being there when he said that? What would you think? "The audacity! He's a paralyzed man, he needs to be physically healed! Do you think he's worried about his sins?" But unlike us, Jesus understood the thing this man required most wasn't the healing touch of a savior, but the soothing balm of grace.
Sometimes I believe we feel a bit like the paralyzed man must have. We hope for something, dream about it, imagine it, only to have our perspective shattered when things don't turned out as we had planned. This is especially true when we pray for things; God always answers, but sometimes the answer is "no."
Does this mean we will be forever disappointed in how things have turned out for us? I don't believe so. Often, when God doesn't do what we expect, it's because he has greater plans. The paralytic did eventually walk away from the encounter on his own two legs, but he also left with the knowledge that one day he would be able to walk beside his Creator. Perhaps we should all take a lesson from the paralytic: sometimes no isn't an unexpected end, it's an unexpected beginning.
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