Gleanings - John - Chapter 9

I absolutely love the story of the man blind from birth!

If you haven't read this passage for yourself,

GO READ IT!!!

What a marvelous picture of God's grace in our lives!  Everyone this blind man knew was sure that  his parents or he had sinned with blindness as the punishment.  Once again Jesus broke through their judgmental thoughts with a new one.  He said this man's life was purposely designed to reveal God's glory.  Isn't this true for each one of us?  We each have a unique set of circumstances.  We each have a special purpose, a part to play in bringing glory to the Most High.

I like how the Message says, "You're asking the wrong question.  You're looking for someone to blame.  There is no such cause-effect here.  Look instead for what God can do. (v3)"

"Look instead for what God can do!"  This is how I want to learn to approach EVERY situation in life.  Pray, trust, and wait with EXPECTATION that God will work.  I want to camp on the fact that God always is working for my good, no matter the appearance of the situation.  That He is listening and mindful of me, like verse 31 indicates:  "It's well known that God isn't at the beck and call of sinners, but listens carefully to anyone who lives in reverence and does His will."


Even with this amazing miracle of sight people were refusing to believe.  The former blind man is INCREDULOUS!  "This is amazing!  You claim to know nothing about Him, but the fact is, He opened my eyes!...That someone opened the eyes of a man born blind has never been heard of---ever.  If this Man didn't come from God, He wouldn't be able to do anything. (vv30,33)"  After this, they threw him out of the synagogue.

Jesus responded to this stubborn disbelief by saying, "...those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind....If you were really blind, you would be blameless, but since you claim to see everything so well, you're accountable for every fault and failure.  (vv39,41)"

O Lord, please keep my eyes open to Your Truth.

Keep my heart teachable and close to You.

Help me be bold in my proclamation of

all that You have done for me.

I also love how, when everyone else turns against this poor man for standing staunchly in faith, Jesus comes to him personally to comfort and minister to him.  My sweet, precious Lord is so tender with His people.


(All verses in this post are taken from The Message.)

Gleanings - John - Chapter 6, part 1

Chapter 6 is all about the Bread of Life.  It begins with Him feeding 5000 followers.  It ends with so many of them leaving that Jesus asks the 12 if they are going to leave as well.

They were all on the far side of the Sea of Galilee: Jesus, the disciples, the crowd.  Then Jesus asks Philip where they could get food to feed these people.  Verse 6 says, "He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do."  Jesus likes us to participate in His plan.  He doesn't need our suggestions, many times doesn't even use them.  But, He still invites the dialogue.  It's all about relationship.  His and ours.

Verse 6 is a comfort to me.  Jesus ALWAYS knows exactly what He's going to do in my life as well.  My life is in His capable Hands.  It is not up in the air.  The Blessed Controller of ALL things has got me covered.  He is my security and safety.  Him alone!

"The Lord of Hosts--regard Him as holy and honor His Holy Name [by regarding Him as your ONLY safety], and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread [lest you offend Him by your fear of man and distrust of Him].  (Isaiah 8:13 Amplified)"

The disciples threw out some thoughts, but no solutions.  My brain thought, in any situation like that, I shouldn't be trying to offer suggestions to Jesus.  I should be saying, "Well, Lord, I don't know what can be done about this, but You do and Your are my Helper (Ps. 54:4).  So my eyes are on You (2Chron. 20:12).  Please tell me how to pray about this."

"Faith is confidence in the character of God."  A.W. Tozer

God always takes care of things better than I can think of any way.  He not only handled the situation miraculously, but there were leftovers!  I feel like that was His way of showing that He could MORE than meet every need.  (Lord, please sink this truth DEEP into my heart.)

After the people are fed, the disciples head out across the sea, and Jesus retreats to pray.  Later on, a storm comes up.  And Jesus walks across the sea and catches up to the disciples.  They think He is a ghost and start to freak out.  But He assures them by saying, "It is I.  Don't be afraid. (v20)"  The Amplified adds, "I AM; stop being frightened."  That is assurance, not only of Who He was, but what He could do in their precarious situation.  When He got in the boat, they "immediately" reached the other side.  MIRACLE!!!

I translated this scenario into my life by thinking of the storm as a mental one (which I seem to have frequently).  A mental train of thought is like taking off in the boat across the sea.  If my thoughts get out of control, an emotional storm blows in.  And here He comes, letting me know of His Presence with some Scriptures that pop into my mind.  If I willingly receive Him into my 'boat' and think His thoughts instead of mine, the storm calms.  Sometimes it takes longer, because I have really allowed my thoughts free rein and have not put on His Mind quickly enough.  But if I catch myself soon, usually I will come peacefully to 'land' without much trouble.

The crowd followed Jesus across the sea.  They wanted more of His physical provision.  He encouraged them to see spiritual provision instead.  Then, even though He had just miraculously fed them the day before, they wanted Him to tell them what kind of 'sign' He would perform to show they should believe Him.  He went on with His train of thought and started talking about being the Bread of Life.

"Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this:  to believe in the One He has sent.'" (verse 29)

Gleanings - John 5:1-17

When I started reading John 5 this week, I could see it was going to have TOO MUCH to process in 1 week.  So I decided to read only through verse 17 each day.  I will get to the other half next week.  That ½ is Jesus directly speaking so...

The 1st ½ of the chapter is about the man who had been ill for 38 years and is lying at the pool where healing is known to happen.  He was not seeking Jesus out.  He was sick and hopeless.  When Jesus came to ask him if he wanted to be well, his answer reflected his hopelessness.

Again I say, the man had been ill 

38 YEARS.  

Uggghhh!!!  

 

 

But Jesus saw him.

There were a multitude of hurting people there that day, 

But Jesus chose him.

Why?  I don’t know.

But He saw this man’s need; He sought this man out; He initiated the conversation; He healed the man without the man asking.  

Wow!  

Mercy in action.

(38 years–It is NEVER too late for God Almighty to work in a seemingly impossible situation!)

“Do you want to be healed?” v6
A good ? for all of us.

When Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well, and the man gave his hopeless answer, Jesus didn’t wait until the man ‘got it’.  He didn’t even tell the man who He was.  He gave him a gift of physical healing.  Anyone would think this was just what that poor man needed. 

Jesus then left without revealing anything else about Himself.

Later, Jesus again SOUGHT the man out.  The man wasn’t looking for Him.  Jesus knew right where he was and found him again.  Then He told the man his TRUE NEED, his need for spiritual healing, for freedom from sin.

Jesus left the man alone long enough for the man to really enjoy his new found health.  Then He came back and said, “See, you are well again.  Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”  Jesus knew all about him and just what he needed.

The man now had a choice to make.  Would he live in victory or wallow in sin?

(We all have this choice to make.)

Some day, I will find out the ‘rest of the story’. 
And oh how I hope it is a GOOD one!

“Jesus said to them,
‘My Father is 

ALWAYS 

at His work
to this very day, and

I, too, am working.’” v17