Friday, February 26, 2016

Trying To Solve The Wrong Problems .. Searching For The Wrong Solutions

My Utmost For His Highest
 
The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw [water] with, and the well is deep." —John 4:11
 
“Have you ever said to yourself, “I am impressed with the wonderful truths of God’s Word, but He can’t really expect me to live up to that and work all those details into my life!” When it comes to confronting Jesus Christ on the basis of His qualities and abilities, our attitudes reflect religious superiority. We think His ideals are lofty and they impress us, but we believe He is not in touch with reality— that what He says cannot actually be done. Each of us thinks this about Jesus in one area of our life or another. These doubts or misgivings about Jesus begin as we consider questions that divert our focus away from God. While we talk of our dealings with Him, others ask us, “Where are you going to get enough money to live? How will you live and who will take care of you?” Or our misgivings begin within ourselves when we tell Jesus that our circumstances are just a little too difficult for Him. We say, “It’s easy to say, ‘Trust in the Lord,’ but a person has to live; and besides, Jesus has nothing with which to draw water— no means to be able to give us these things.” […] But we do have misgivings about Jesus. […] My misgivings arise from the fact that I search within to find how He will do what He says. My doubts spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, I should bring them into the light and confess them openly”  CHAMBERS
 
Do you find that it is easy to believe that Jesus can do something, but much harder to believe He “will” do something…. At least for you?  You find yourself in the middle of life’s circumstances.  Perhaps it is from your own making .. your own sin .. perhaps not … but the situation is impossible.  The woman at the well got water every day from that well.  She knew what it took to draw water there.  She also knew that Jesus did not have what He needed to draw the water from the well.  I am sure she was thinking “Seriously? This guy does not have a clue!”  But she was looking at the situation through her eyes and not His.  She saw the impossibility of the situation.  She had already predicted failure.  There was not any point … but Jesus was not bound by what she saw .. by the limitations that she resolved herself to … (John 4:10, 12-15) “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” … “Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
 
Was Jesus greater than Jacob?  What a question!  Do you look at your circumstances in terms of what men can do and think, “It’s not possible”?  Jesus told her what He had to give would last forever.  She was still stuck in the three dimensions of this world and asked for water that would allow her to not have to come to the well every day.  She wanted a physical solution.  Jesus said that answer you are looking for was in Him.  Then He went on to tell her why she came to the well when no one else from the village was there … shame and rejection … That He could fix the source of her trouble.  We struggle with the same thing.  Where are you looking for solutions?  Are you interested in the solution that Jesus is offering?  Or are you rejecting that as an impossibility or worse yet as unacceptable.   You want Jesus to prove Himself by fixing the relationship.  By solving the financial troubles.  By curing the illness.  Not by "just" being the God of all comfort, your strength, your peace …. That is nice but you want more … Jesus is the more that you are looking for, you just need to open your eyes and turn your heart toward Him. ELGIN
 
Charley Elgin

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