Don’t you just love how God does things? So unpredictably and yet so obviously right - obvious of course only after He does them!
Surely, by now we are learning to expect the unexpected from God.
First, He is in a manger. Then in the water in the desert and now He starts preaching in some out-of-the-way place in Galilee. Of course! No way would Jesus begin as expected, with the keepers of the light in Jerusalem.
The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in
the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned!
The hardworking fisherman didn’t see it coming either. Yet, they left everything behind at once, immediately. That’s what you do when the greatest Teacher in the world calls you, right?
They couldn’t have known what they were in for. How following Jesus would change their lives! But they had a desire to go wherever becoming more like this Teacher would lead them.
Doesn’t following Jesus lead to heaven? Yes, someday. But where are we going today?
It depends. Have we become His daily students?
If so, we only know what they knew…
We too are going wherever becoming more like our Teacher takes us.
And we know to expect the unexpected along the way. That’s what He does!
Denny, you mentioned that we are learning to expect the unexpected from God.That is what makes this journey of being a student in this universary so exciting. Where is God leading me today in my walk with him? I imagine the disciples had the same thought as they left their nets(their old lives)and walked on with Jesus.God bless our new format and study.
ReplyDeleteTo expect the unexpected is a very good lesson to learn. I’m not a country music fan, but I heard a few lines of a song once that made me laugh, and listen to the rest of it: “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” God has plans for us (Eph 2:10) and He works through us to do things we ourselves could never imagine! (Eph 3:20-21) Praise to God who works through His people!
ReplyDeleteIn yesterday’s reading, Satan focused on the temporary and the physical, tempting Jesus to please self. Jesus saw through this and focused on the spiritual and the eternal, pleasing God. Oh how I wish I could see the spiritual and eternal side of things more clearly and more often!
Yet in the last few verses of Matt 4 we see Jesus healing the physical ailments of the people. The result is that large crowds follow him, and then he is able to work on healing their spiritual ailments through the instructions in chapters 5-7 and beyond. This is a good pattern to follow. Show the people you care for them by helping with a physical need and usually an opportunity to help them spiritually will present itself. As in the clinic Rocketdyne road congregation is starting - I see great spiritual outreach possibilities through this! We should all “practice hospitality” in such ways to show people we care, and thus open doors for spiritual instructions.
Another thought that came to me while reading today: I wonder at the moment vs. 21 happened, and Jesus called James to follow Him, could Jesus see Acts 12 and Herod?
If so, He probably also saw Rev 6:9, and Rev 21:1-3.