When we read the scriptures do we miss the heart of God?

When Jesus changes water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee according to John 2:1-11, our focus is  on the miracle of changing one substance into another, and rightfully so. But why did he perform the miracle? Was he drug into public ministry by his mother before he was ready?

We know that Mary, Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding feast. This could have been some relative, most certainly friends of Mary. The close knit community of Cana would have insisted that the entire community would be invited.

Not providing enough food and certainly not having enough wine would be a social disgrace. In closely knit communities of Jesus’ day an error like this would have followed the newly married couple all their lives. Wine was a rabbinic symbol of joy. Running out of wine would have suggested the guests, the bride and groom were not happy people.

Consider How a Jewish wedding took place:

The prospective groom's father first approached the girl's father with the proposal of marriage. If the girl's father agreed to the suggested dowry, the two men sealed the agreement with a toast of wine. 
 The prospective groom proclaimed his love and asked his love to marry him.  If she accepted his proposal the agreement was validated by the presentation of a gift, usually a ring, he said to his intended bride, "Behold you are consecrated to me with this ring according to the laws of Moses and Israel." 
 Arrangements were made right then concerning the terms of the marriage.  A written contract listed the time, place, and size of the wedding as well as recording the dowry and terms of maintenance of the marriage.
 The typical Jewish wedding took place at night.  As soon as any members of the wedding spotted the moving torches signaling the groom's approach, their cry echoed through the streets, "The bridegroom is coming."  The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia tells us, "Mirth and gladness announced their approach to townspeople waiting in houses along the route to the bride's house."  Upon hearing the announcement, the excited bride would drop everything in order to slip into her wedding dress and complete her final personal preparations for marriage.
    Instead of the groom entering the bride's house, the bride came out to meet him.  The two, accompanied by their wedding party, returned together to the groom's house for the marriage ceremony.  Following the public ceremony, the newlyweds entered their bridal chamber to be intimate with each other for the first time.  After this union, the groom came out and announced to the wedding guests, "Our marriage is consummated."
     Receiving the glad news, the wedding party began a "festive" seven-day celebration.  The celebration lasted seven days only if this was the first marriage of a virgin girl. The bride and the groom stayed with each other in seclusion.  At the end of this time of privacy for those seven days, the groom would present his unveiled bride to everyone in attendance.  The newlyweds then joined in the wedding feast with the guests.
 So consider the heart of a loving God:
Mary missed out on all the fan fare and attention of what would take place for a young Jewish girl, who no doubt dreampt of her own wedding. The honor and all the expectancy of a traditional wedding ceremony, all that a wedding ceremony meant as a believer in God. Mary was honored to accept the call of God on her life. But now at the wedding ceremony of a friend, all the memories of excitement, anticipation, joy, fear, and love had to rush into her heart and mind. Then the feeling of lost dreams, what could have been. What every little Jewish girl watched and dreamed of one day for her own life. Joseph now gone she was alone with no covering of a husband. No fond memories of that great day shared by a husband and wife.
God is a healer of our deep wounds with a touch of his hand. Sometimes he chooses to do something more for us that causes us to understand his love in ways that will speak to the deepest unspoken areas of our hearts that hurt beyond words.
 No wine for her young friend! Mary knew the shame that would come, the thoughts and the looks this young girl and her young husband would have to endure the rest of their lives. Mary felt the horror and feared the worst.
 Mary looks at her son, knowing who he is and that he was capable to take care of what was necessary, she says "there is no more wine!" Jesus told her very sternly, “woman, why are you dragging me into this, it’s not my time yet.” 
 Jesus performs this miracle for Mary. To touch the heart of Mary and to cause her to know that he knows she missed out on her childhood dream.
 I don’t want to miss the heart of God. He cares about lost dreams, and missed opportunities. Sometimes what look like the small things are the larger things and he knows that. I want to slow down and find God’s heart in why he did the things he did, not just that he did them.
He is there at all times, he sees our hearts in all things and he is able to touch us when and where we need him to touch us.
The thought of this moves me to greater trust in him.
 Thank you my brother Dale Brockett for dropping this in my heart. You are an amazing gift from God.

Growing in the Knowledge of God

It pleases God when we grow in knowledge of him.  Our understanding of growing in knowledge of anything is based on our concept of growing in knowledge not God’s concept. The only problem is we don’t usually get it.

Take a look at a couple of things the way God does. He says he has chosen the foolish and weak things of this world to confound the wise and the strong. Our concept is just the opposite. Only the strong survive, there is power in knowledge. These things are true but they refer to a life dependent on who we are and what we can accomplish, not of dependence on God alone. God also says the first shall be last and last shall be first and to be great you must become a servant. Sounds opposite again to what we were taught when we were growing up. How many times have we heard second is still second. No one remembers the person who finishes second.

I’m not advocating living a life shrouded in ignorance or not living a healthy life style . That would be ridiculous.I love competition and think it is even healthy. But it is not an end to meat all means.

  If we focus on an academic growth in our knowledge of God alone we create in ourselves the distinct possibility of self pride, arrogance and religious piety that will equal that of the Pharisees and Sadducees of the first century. Jesus spoke out very strongly against this attitude and lifestyle, he said "beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees."

When we are told to grow in the knowledge of God it isn’t just academic but relational as well.
When I was chasing my wife. Yes I said chasing. I wanted to learn everything about her so I could impress her and learn to please her. I wanted to spend time with her; wanting her to want to spend time with me. I figured if I knew what made her happy, figuring out what made her smile and laugh she would do everything she could to get more time with me. Soon I wanted to know how she thought and what motivated her to act the way she did. I wanted to avoid what made her mad or fearful. I wanted to know what her dreams and aspirations were. I wanted to know what made her who she is.

 This kind of knowledge is both academic and relational. The relational knowledge was and still is only found out by experiencing her, by spending time with her. After 32 years of being married to her the same holds true today as it did when the chase was a foot. As we both change through the years it requires me paying close attention to her and her needs, desires and dreams.   

 In Mark 4:35-41. Jesus had his disciples get in a boat with him. They set sail across the Sea of Galilee. As we pick up the story Jesus is sleeping and there is a squall that forms as they are in the middle of the sea, The wind is blowing and the waves were big enough to sink the boat. The disciples panic, now consider that these guys were seasoned fishermen. Some small amount of wind and waves wouldn’t have frightened them, Mark records that these guys were afraid for their lives. They wake Jesus out of a dead sleep, he immediately takes action and calms the storm, the waves subside and all is calm. He says to them “why are so afraid, do still have no faith?” Growing in the knowledge of God will cause us to call out to him first instead of panic first, because we learn we can trust him to keep safe us in all conditions through our journey as we walk with him.

God’s desire is always relational. He wants us to know everything there is about him. That’s why he put his Spirit in us. John 16:13-14 says: “But when He the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and will disclose it to you.”

 God wants us to learn about him and experience him through an ongoing daily relationship. Growing in knowledge is very shallow if it is only academic and not relational. The depth of God is way too great for us to limit our knowledge of who he is that comes from what we glean academically alone, not delving into the depths of who he is through building a relationship with him. The written words he left for us will always keep us from getting off track relationally with him because of our emotions. Our emotions are a gift from him so we can experience intimacy with him. He is very balanced and will always keep us balanced if we stay consistent in our full knowledge of who he is. Always moving forward gaining more knowledge of who he is. Growing in relationship with him daily the way he intended from his early walks in the cool of the garden with both Adam and Eve.

Acknowledge him in all your ways and he will make your paths straight.

Submission

I find the word submission a difficult one to live by. The topic of submission is a common conversation among Christians, but not so quickly applied. The Bible has much to say about submission: “Wives submit to your husband’s in Christ, ‘submit to those in authority over you, ‘submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, ‘you younger men submit to your elders.”

 The trouble is we don’t like to submit to the authority of God. We all like the idea and understand the concept of submission but let’s face it it’s not easy to do.

  This morning I came across the passage where Jesus comes John the Baptizer, in Matthew 3:13-17, to be baptized. John is taken back by Jesus’ approach to him. John knows Jesus as God. The one who has come to take away the sins of the world.  John makes the statement; “one is coming whose sandals I am not worthy to untie,” making it pretty obvious he had a full grasp on who was standing in front of him. John physically sees his cousin but the Spirit of God had revealed to him this was God incarnate. I love the statement Jesus makes in verse 15, “John for now this is the way it is, so we can fulfill all the necessary requirements of the law.” David Murrow puts it like this “it’s like a new golfer giving golfing lessons to Tiger Woods.” Are you kidding me? Do you think John was standing there scratching his head?

 There are times when God will lay something in our hearts that doesn’t seem to make any sense. In fact there are times when God asks us to do things that will make us look foolish or weak, or even to us like we might be in harm’s way. I recently experienced a situation like this. A long term situation has been brewing where I work; the situation was like a pressure cooker left too long getting ready to explode. A coworker who is a button pusher got out of hand. Last week things escalated to the point of getting outsiders involved. After several meetings there was a verbal reprimand that resulted in a meeting among our peers. The morning of that meeting I was going through my devotions and the Lord dropped in my thoughts that I should take the opportunity to ask this man to forgive me. WHAT?

 Literally after months of self examination, prayer, fasting and talking to other men in authority at church, looking for a Godly view of the situation, wondering if I was in violation of scripture or before God, I came to the conclusion I had done nothing wrong. Then the Lord tells me I need to ask for the forgiveness of a man who has no conviction of Godly matters or anything about God at all. Like John the Baptist, I was confused.

Jesus told John we need to do this to please God.

 I didn’t like what I was asked to do. I had a choice to make, would I go with what I was convinced to be right in my mind and emotions or obey God and do what felt very unnatural to me? An apology would make me look foolish in front of unbelievers, authorities over me and friends.

 The meeting went off pretty good. The opportunity came for me to speak up. Like a pregnant pause, you could hear a pin drop. I looked across the circle of 14 construction workers standing next to each other. It felt like two gladiators facing each other ready for battle. The work force divided into two camps, half with him and half with me. There was absolute silence, the air was so thick you needed a sawzall to cut it! I called my nemesis out by name, first stating the obvious issue between us then I said “if I have done anything to make you’re working environment uncomfortable, please forgive me.”

 Almost immediately there was an overwhelming sense of release in me, fighting back the tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn’t done. I addressed a problem with another man who had been a friend, now in the opposite camp, and asked for his forgiveness as well.

I learned a very deep and hard lesson this month. Submission to God is not always something that makes sense. Submission is a matter of obedience and a matter of will. Is Jesus Lord of my life, or just my Savior?

Living as a disciple of Jesus is not easy because in order to follow Jesus, submission is a requirement. Submission comes at personal cost. Jesus said “if you want to be my disciple you must pick up your cross daily.” Being called a child of the Living God has benefits, it holds many promises, but it’s not always easy, there is a cost. It would be easy to pay a monetary price to enter the kingdom, God knew that. The requirement of our devotion is at a personal cost of honoring Jesus as the King of Kings, it’s the hardest thing we will do in this life because it requires us to live as sacrifices at the expense of our sinful nature we were born into. Jesus placed the Holy Spirit in us to empower us to do the right thing and to guide us into all righteousness.

Submissions to the things of God are not always easy, but it teaches us how to live in the abundance of his favor, teaching us how deeply he loves us and wants the very best for our lives.

  Work hard at submission, to honoring the King of Glory. Love him and keep his words alive in your heart daily.