Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Beyond Understanding - November 17, 2010

Good Wednesday morning! I'm taking the day off from deer hunting, not that the deer have been in any danger from me so far this year. I read part of an article in the paper this morning that mentioned, "flush with cash" and "neighboring farmers" in the same breath. I have a feeling that if I were to ask the farmers around these parts about all that cash they would one and all say that it must be their neighbors who have all the extra cash. Now that we know* the farmers are set for cash, I guess we can stop worrying about them and worry for the unemployed folks all over the world. Nope, sorry, Jesus didn't tell us that worrying was okay if it was for someone else. We are to trust in God at all times, whether the potential worry is for our selves or for someone else.

Today, why won't Jesus eat?

But [Jesus] said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." John 4:32

I'm out of coffee. We'll have to tackle this verse in a few moments. Okay, all better now. Actually, I just needed some time to wait on the Lord while he gives me inspiration and words for the day's devotional. The disciples have come back from buying food in that Samaritan town, no doubt feeling the urge to brush off the 1st century cooties of racism, and here the rabbi won't eat anything. Of course we can predict the next question, "Who brought him something to eat?" We'll see it in the next verse. We also have learned that you can't always take the words of Jesus in the way that we know, that is in strictly the physical, worldly sense. Jesus told Nicodemus to go find his mother and get birthed one more time. He told the woman who had just left the well that he had living water; she may have wondered if the water in their well was dead water.
Speaking over our heads, or beyond our current understanding, does not make Jesus the Son of God. Any number of experts can speak over our heads in their area of deep knowledge. However, we can see that as the Son, Jesus holds an understanding that is beyond our own.

Born again, living water, and food that we don't know about, all speak to something beyond our understanding. Nicodemus could not explain being born of Spirit and the woman didn't understand living water. You and I cannot explain these things on our own; we need the words of Jesus, Paul, John, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our best witness is still the way we live, not how much we know or think we know.

Praise the name of Jesus on this fine day!

Bucky

* It was in the paper!

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