FOCUSED ON THE OBVIOUS

John 11:32 "When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

The faith of this woman was great. She knew that Jesus had the power to heal and she believe that if He'd been there, that is exactly what would have happened. And yet, she totally misses the boat. She is focused on the obvious. She has probably experienced Jesus heal someone before, so she knows he is capable of that. But she can't see beyond that. "If only you'd been here Lord..." Mary's faith could only go so far.

I like what Jesus says even before he gets to Mary. "No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." He knew Lazarus would die. But He allowed it to bring glory to God.

How often do we have things in our life where we think, if only God had stepped in, I wouldn't have lost my job. If only God had stepped in, I wouldn't be in court. If only God had stepped in, maybe I wouldn't have been divorced. God allows bad things to happen. It doesn't mean He loves us any different. But He is in the helicopter, we are in the car. He knows that if He allows certain things to happen, it will draw you closer or someone else closer to God. That whole bumper sticker that said, "Be patient, God isn't done with me yet," takes on a whole new meaning.

I'm sure I've shared my push up story with you before, but here it is again. When I went in the Army, I had to be able to do 1 pushup to go into basic training. I trained with a Marine. Doing one pushup...please, cake. But I couldn't. I pushed out 15 or more, none to the drill segarents satisfaction. Bam! I hit the table and was shipped off to 2 weeks of 8 hour a day physical training. I was SO angry at God, but that two weeks ended up saving me from the Panama situation, going to Saudi Arabia and the LA Riots. I missed all of those wars by guess how many weeks...you guessed it...two. We can't focus on what is right in front of us, because that isn't the end of the story. God is the author. We just need to trust Him to write the best possible story.

FOCUSED ON THE WATER?

Read: John 5:5-8
“One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’
‘Sir,’ the invalid replied, ‘I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.”

The great thing about this story is here is a man who is looking for a miracle, but doesn’t have the ability to get to the pool that will give him one. When Jesus comes to him, the man is still focused on the pool. He doesn’t ask Jesus to heal him, he simply states he can’t be healed because he can’t get to the pool. Jesus speaks two words, “Get up!” and the man is healed.

How often do we focus on what we think will bring us our miracle without once looking to God? Oh, we may say a prayer here and there, but are we really focused on Jesus or on our problem?

I just walked through a trial where I found myself looking to every worldly solution there was and only making my situation worse. Finally I stopped and realized, I can’t get to the “pool” by myself, I need God’s help. I began to pray and Jesus made a way.

Do you have a trial today and your solution seems out of reach? Stop trying to get to the solution and let Jesus be the solution.

—K .Mendoza