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Daily Devotions for the Advent and Christmas Seasons
Wednesday, December 30
John 4:46-54
by Ed Chin
How often are we willing to act on words alone, to trust in something we cannot see or even understand, to go on faith without any reassurances whatsoever?
Despite all his wealth and power, which would have afforded him the best physicians and medicines of his day, a nobleman’s son lay deathly ill. As a father who dearly loved his son, the nobleman sets off on a desperate trek to find Jesus whom he has heard is a healer. It is over 20 miles through the mountains, and he won’t arrive until the next day, but he hopes that Jesus will come back home with him and perform a miracle to heal his son. When he finds Jesus and pleads with him, all Jesus does is lecture him and the crowd that they shouldn’t need these signs and miracles to lead them to God. Undeterred, the nobleman asks Jesus again, and this time Jesus simply tells him his boy will live. He offers the nobleman no visible miracle.
Imagine how the man must feel. He is desperate. He has come a long way, only to have Jesus the healer dismiss him and tell him to go back home. He doesn’t offer to go back with him. All the nobleman gets is words, and he has to retrace his whole journey with no tangible evidence just his faith in the words of Jesus—until the next day when his slaves inform him of his son’s recovery, which happened the day before exactly when Jesus spoke.
Sometimes our walk with Jesus is like this, no big miracles or signs that we can see, just faith in the words and love of Jesus.
Prayer
Lord, sometimes things get tough, and all we have is faith. But Jesus, you are the Word, and our faith in you is enough to comfort us. Thank you for your love. Amen.