Daily Thought For July 7, 2014
Trusting That God Is At Work
You’ve probably watched Olympic figure skating before, but you may not know how complicated the judging is. The judges use instant replay to decide on a technical score for each element of a skater’s routine such as jumps or spins. Then they use a component score for factors such as skating skills, choreography, and transitions. For each segment of a routine, the technical score is added to the component score, and a computer selects scores from the judges to get a total score. That’s a lot of scoring and calculating, isn’t it?
Some of us may think that Jesus is like one of these judges. We imagine that he was keeping score of the official with the sick daughter and the woman with the hemorrhage. He must have looked at how much faith they had and decided to give them a passing grade—to hear their prayers and intervene in their lives.
But look at the way Matthew tells the story. He doesn’t give any indication that these two had any more faith than anyone else. Of course, they believed that he would help them. But so did many in the crowd. What was different about these two people was their determination to get right in front of—or behind—Jesus. The official interrupted Jesus while he was speaking to a crowd. And the woman pushed through all those people to touch Jesus’ cloak. Notice too that when they got to him, Jesus didn’t subject them to any scrutiny. He responded with love, just as he responds to anyone who comes to him with even a mustard seed of faith.
Isn’t this great news? What counts with Jesus is that we come to him. It’s true that we must believe that he can and will reward those who seek him. But it’s okay if you are feeling lost, scared, broken, or not in the right frame of mind. Simply trust Jesus and push through your doubt so that you can encounter him. He may not give you a spectacular healing, but he will give himself to you—his faith, his compassion, his mercy. And that’s more than enough to see you through any challenge!
“Lord, I’m not asking for perfect faith—just faith! Help me to find the courage to come to you. Today I will trust you in everything, known and unknown!”
Daily Reflection from The Word Among Us