Read John 4:43-45. Circle the words that stand out to you. What is the Lord saying to you?
43 After the two days he left for Galilee. 44 (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there.
46 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.
48 “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
49 The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
50 “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”
The man took Jesus at his word and departed. 51 While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. 52 When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.
Digging Deeper
Want to see a miracle? Looking for a miracle in your life? Is seeing the same as believing? Was it just chance or just a coincident? What will it take for us to actually believe with our own eyes?
The royal official, an official of Herod’s court, called for the best doctors in his home town of Capernaum to heal his dying son. He probably went far and wide in search for a cure and found none. By chance he heard stories of a man performing miracles in Jerusalem. What it a hoax? Can He really do it? Being desperate, his last hope was this man. His son had only hours or perhaps a day before he dies. Time wasn’t on his side. He was running out of time.
Few of us ever face running out of options. Few of us ever face running out of time. For those who are critically ill from an auto accident, the various variants of Covid 19, battling advance cancer, facing an impossible situation, who do we turn to? What do you do? Resigned to fate, resist to the end or reach out to God.
The royal official didn’t know what this man would say or do for him. He asked in faith, begging Him to hurry to his house to touch his son and save him from death. Jesus said to him, “Go, your son lives.” Would that be enough for us or do we need to see Jesus touch that child. That man went away in faith. Astonishing.
Not everyone who prays to God is healed. Prayer is entrusting our needs to God to answer according to His will, not our own will. Will we still believe and trust in God even though our prayers are not answered in the way we wanted it? “Is it my way or the highway, God” the attitude of our hearts and minds? How would you respond if your prayers wasn’t answered the way you were hoping for? Would you still love God and entrust that He will work out everything for your good?
Kingston