Prove It…Again

Today’s Reading:

• Luke 8:1-3; Mark 3:20-30; Matthew 12:22-45; Mark 3:31-35; Matthew 12:46-50; Luke 8:19-21; Mark 4:1-9; Matthew 13:1-9; Luke 8:4-8; Mark 4:10-20

Verse(s) to Ponder:

• One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.” But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah.” – Matthew 12:38-39, New Living Translation

Thoughts:
In the face of Jesus’ goodness, in the face of the wisdom and morality of His teachings, opponents still came and demanded that He perform a miracle to convince them that He was genuinely here as God’s representative.

It’s not as if they hadn’t been able to witness any of His other miracles already. And they had certainly heard His teachings. He wasn’t hiding anything.

No wonder Jesus called them out. No wonder he said that their hearts were evil and adulterous—that their inclination was to be unfaithful to their God.

And yet He still gave them a sign. The sign of Jonah—that is, the sign of His own death and resurrection.

How many of them responded to His sign? How many of us are just the same as they were, rejecting Jesus despite everything He’s done and demanding another sign?

Note: I have obviously been less than consistent about posting devotional thoughts for a while now, so I’m not going to claim that I’ll be consistent for the next few months, or that the blog will be centered around a certain theme (it was supposed to deal with faith-stretching verses this year). I just hope that these thoughts are still an encouragement to you, whenever they come your way.

Wonder of Wonders

ALL – Psalm 146:1-10
ALL – Proverbs 18:2-3
OT – 2 Kings 13:1-14:29
NT – Acts 18:22-19:12

Interesting passage for the day: And God gave Paul the power to do unusual miracles... – Acts 19:11, The Living Bible

Thought: I’ve been thinking more about miracles lately. And you know what I think? I think that part of the reason that we don’t see more miracles here in America is because for us they would often be either a convenience or an entertainment. Think about it. *Cough, cough.* “I have a cold. But I really don’t want to go to the doctor. How about a miracle?” Or perhaps… *Yawn.* “That was an awesome concert. But they’re getting to be pretty much the same. Different singers, different styles, but eventually, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. But hey, wouldn’t it be cool if miracles really happened?” God is not a convenience. He’s our need. God is not our entertainment—He’s not our court jester. He’s our King. God gives power for miracles, but not to those of us who are just looking for fun or for an easier, more convenient life. God gives power for miracles to those whose lives are in His hands, who are willing to die for Him, who are willing to wait until Jesus’ return to see His blessings, and yet who yearn for more life to introduce more people to the King of kings. God gives miracles to people who are not desperate just for miracles, but for His Son Jesus Christ.

Question: Have you ever seen a miracle? A real miracle, not just a normal-thing-that-happens-everyday-but-is-miraculous? How did it fit with my thoughts?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

More Trustworthy than a Miracle

ALL – Psalm 106:32-48
ALL – Proverbs 14:34-35
OT – 1 Samuel 8:1-9:27
NT – John 6:22-42


Interesting passage for the day: They replied, “You must show us more miracles if you want us to believe you are the Messiah. Give us free bread every day, like our fathers had while they journeyed through the wilderness. As the Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven.’ ” – John 6:30-31, The Living Bible

Thought: It really would be nice if Jesus would perform miracles for us every day—at least, it feels like it would be nice. It feels like it would be easier to trust Him. These people even managed to come up with a seemingly Scriptural basis for daily miracles. But Jesus ends up correcting their use of Scripture, and the fact is that trust and faith cannot be established merely on the basis of miraculous powers. Evil people and false religions have demonstrated miraculous powers at times. Miracles demonstrate power, but power in and of itself is not trustworthy. Character counts, and Jesus was demonstrating His character all the time, even when He wasn’t performing miracles. The Son of God lived the righteous life of God. Jesus was (and is) utterly trustworthy, whether He’s in the act of performing a miracle or not.

Question: As important as it is to know that God is all-powerful and can perform miracles, is that the most important truth about God? What have you found to be even more important as you’ve journeyed with Jesus?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Did Jesus Pre-Arrange His Miracles?

ALL – Psalm 90:1-91:16
ALL – Proverbs 13:24-25
OT – Judges 1:1-2:9
NT – Luke 21:29-22:13

People are always trying to explain Jesus’ miracles and divine foreknowledge away. And some of the stories in the Bible make that seem almost possible. But there are two stories in particular that I’ve heard even fairly faithful Bible teachers say, “This wasn’t a miracle. This was pre-arranged.” One is the story of Jesus sending His disciples to get a donkey’s colt for Him to ride into Jerusalem; the other is the story we’re going to consider today, the story of Jesus sending the disciples to find a place for their final Passover (Luke 22:7-13).

I disagree with the “pre-arranged” theory. Both of these stories portray Jesus’ foreknowledge. Here’s why.

Let’s start with the concluding verse:

They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and prepared the Passover. – Luke 22:13, The Living Bible

Why would it be important, in a book devoted to pointing people to Jesus as God’s Christ, to say that they found everything as Jesus said—except to point out His foreknowledge? It wouldn’t.

Open your Bibles and check out the story to see if the rest of these reasons make sense.

1. Even if Jesus pre-arranged things, He would not have known the precise time when His disciples would enter Jerusalem, so He would not have known when to arrange to have a man walking along carrying a pitcher of water. Also, any number of servants could have been sent to carry water for their masters, so this sign could easily have back-fired if Jesus had just made arrangements in advance. He had to have foreknowledge to know when His disciples would arrive and which man they would see carrying water.
2. Also, Jesus does not instruct the disciples to interact with the man carrying water—just to follow him. If Jesus had pre-arranged everything, surely He would have had the disciples confirm in some way that this was the correct man carrying water. But he doesn’t give them the man’s name, his master’s name, or any special greeting whatsoever—just instructions to follow him into someone’s house. This is because they didn’t need to confirm the man’s identity. Jesus simply knew that the man they saw carrying water would lead them to the house where He intended to eat the Passover.
3. Third, Jesus’ instructions to them about what to say to the master of the house are very vague and general. They don’t identify the master, and they don’t identify Jesus. Rather than saying, “Jesus sent us,” the disciples are to say, “The Teacher needs a room.” There were other teachers with disciples besides Jesus in those days. Jesus did not need His disciples to identify Him because He had not pre-arranged this; He knew this man would respond to this general request.
   

And again, the story concludes with the comment that the disciples found everything to be like Jesus said—not a comment that would matter much if He’d pre-arranged everything. So the disciples clearly passed on this story with the idea that it would help to show the world that Jesus was more than just a man, just a teacher. After all, this book concludes with Jesus’ resurrection! They definitely thought He was unique, and this story helps to show His uniqueness.

Jesus is the Son of God. The Father sent Him to earth as a man, to live the life of men. But Jesus was no mere man. He was unique, a miracle worker who showed that He knew what would happen before it happened. No matter how much people try to explain His miracles away, it just makes more sense to take the stories that seem miraculous exactly as they are—stories that display the glory of the Christ, God’s Son, the Son of Man.

P.S. My computer has been down this week (no power cord). So I hope that you remembered that you can access the readings online via http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/readingplan.asp?version=51&startmmdd=0101 (go ahead and bookmark it if you forgot, just in case something happens again). The rest of this week’s readings, through Sunday, are:

April 24, 2010

ALL – Psalm 92:1-93:5
ALL – Proverbs 14:1-2
OT – Judges 2:10-3:31
NT – Luke 22:14-34

April 25, 2010

ALL – Psalm 94:1-23
ALL – Proverbs 14:3-4
OT – Judges 4:1-5:31
NT – Luke 22:35-53

And the prior readings can be found at the above link. Let’s press on together!

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Laughing At God

ALL – Psalm 7:1-17
ALL – Proverbs 2:1-5
OT – Genesis 16:1-18:15
NT – Matthew 6:1-24

We all have times when we kind of laugh at God, times when God’s promises seem to be too good to be true… at least, in our lives. We think, “Perhaps God will do wonderful things for others, or perhaps He’s done amazing things in the past, but I just can’t imagine Him touching my life in a miraculous way.” Perhaps we can’t imagine that God would give children to us, because the doctors have said that we’re infertile. Perhaps we can’t imagine that God would heal our cancer-ridden bodies. Perhaps we can’t imagine that God would help us to quit a harmful habit, like smoking cigarettes or getting over alcoholism. Perhaps we can’t imagine that God would take the heart of our abusive husband and transform him into a man of gentleness.

Even Abraham had a point where he laughed at the idea that God would do the miraculous in his life:

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" – Genesis 17:17, NIV

And yet God gave Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac.

God’s design for your life is good. And God can make good things happen. It may take a while. We may even have to wait until we’re face to face with God in heaven before our lives experience the dramatic change God is looking for. But God often is pleased to do the miraculous in our lives while we still live in this world. He wants the world to know His intentions toward us are good.

So let’s not laugh at God’s promises. Let’s trust them, and let’s joyfully celebrate when we see His transformational work in our lives.

Would you like to share something you’ve seen God do? I’d love to hear it!

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.