"Mirror Of Ink"

I look into this mirror of ink and see a soul that has no beauty in itself, but is silvery-white in the light of

Your Grace that covers me and makes me new.

Friday, August 13, 2010

The Miracle In Obedience

"Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water'; so they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, 'Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.' They did so." -John 2:6-8

Obedience can be hard, especially when we have no idea what the outcome of our obedience will be. That takes faith in the person whom you are choosing to obey. Whether it be a parent, employee, friend, or someone else, the outcome of our obedience is directly related to the motive of whom we are obeying.

When it comes to God, we can trust that our obedience to Him and His Word will always result in bringing Him glory, and drawing others to Him. When we read in Romans where Paul tells us that "God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose," we have to realize that the "good" he speaks of is not necessarily the "good" that we understand it to be. If we are called according to HIS purpose, things may not always end up how we think are best, but they will always end up in glorifying the Father and drawing others to Him, which should be our heart's true desire. Not my will, but Yours be done.

In the story of Jesus turning water into wine, we read the account the first recorded miracle that Jesus did. Jesus and his friends and family are attending a wedding banquet when they suddenly run out of wine. Jesus' mother immediately volunteers Jesus to help resolve the situation. I find it interesting that rather than entering the miracle scene with a big bang by performing a spectacular solo, Jesus chooses to rely on the help of some simple servants. Isn't that just like God? He can do anything and everything all by Himself, but He chooses to use us, His humble servants, to perform amazing miracles.

Jesus instructs the servants to fill some jars with water, and then take some to the master of the banquet to taste. Can you imagine what the servants must have been thinking? At this time, Jesus had not performed any miracles. It was doubtful that many people fully understood who He really was- the Son of God. So these servants are instructed by Jesus, who to them is just another ordinary guy, to take some water (which they got themselves) and let the master of the banquet taste it when he was expecting wine. Talk about faithful obedience! In those days, if a servant was to make a huge mistake like bringing the master water instead of wine, it could easily be punishable by death. So these servants were not only risking their jobs, but possibly their lives.

Obviously I was not there to witness firsthand this amazing miracle. But from what I gather from the Word of God, Jesus did not once touch the jars or the water himself. He simply gave the orders to the servants, who carried them out, and the miracle was performed. I believe with all my heart that if it were not for the obedience of those servants, the water would not have been changed to wine. And so it is with our lives. There are miracles to be performed every day all around us, but those miracles are a direct result of our obedience- blind and risky- to the Father. Many times we will not see the results of the miracle until we truly put our neck on the line, just like the servants in this story. The real miracle is in our obedience.

I want God to use me. It is my daily prayer that God would use me to do great things for Him. But how many times do we miss out on a miracle because our obedience seems too risky? When we get to the place where we are willing to obey God no matter how crazy it seems and regardless of what we think the outcome will be, I believe we will begin to see more and more miracles- not because of what we do, but because of WHO we choose to obey.

2 comments:

Tera said...

I am extremely grateful that we step out in obedience that we can trust God. It is a hard thing to do. Thanks for writing this. I love the last line. Good stuff!

Unknown said...

Heather, you amaze me! Keep writing! it inspires me and really makes me think!