I love seeing the tender hearted side of God.
I have to admit, this is an anomaly where I come from.
Most Christians around me think of faith as a convenient way to escape evil while we live and sidestep hell when we die.
How do I know that? Too many prayer meetings are geared towards fending off evil, and most sermons are on how important it is to have perfect obedience ─ the absence of which opens the door to being attacked by the enemy.
My theology is different. When I’m in my element, my faith is summed up with God being a Father who’s crazy about me even when I don’t deserve it.
I believe in a King who directs me, gently corrects me and stays with me through all the highs and lows of life.
I have to admit; there is a downside to my theology. Because I focus so much on the loving side of God, I often lose sight of his might.
After coming through a season that I can only describe as traumatic, I’ve been hit with a lot of questions; some from others, most from myself.
If God is loves me that much, why doesn’t He stop bad situations?
If God is all love and I still got hit, what does that say about my walk with Him?
Maybe if I prayed more, fasted longer and lived an impeccable life, God would have shielded me from certain valleys that make no sense.
Then of course there is the unspoken theory. The theory that states that the evil one is actually stronger than God and has free reign to bring destruction unless I’m meeting God’s impossible standard.
I call it the unspoken theory because although no one really admits it, I still can’t figure out why eighty- percent of the average prayer meeting is spent binding demons.
You probably have never questioned your faith or God’s might.
I have. Some seasons more than others, but I figure my honesty doesn’t shock God.
In fact I strongly suspect He sees the questions that have recently flooded my heart. That would explain why He took the time to show me a sequence Mark wrote. A sequence I can only describe as God’s might on display.
Mark starts at the end of his 4th chapter with the storm that threatens the lives of Jesus’ disciples (or so they think). Contrary to prevailing circumstances though, Jesus remains fast asleep!
At the peak of their despair, they wake him up and we see a sleepy-eyed Jesus snap the elements into submission with three words.
There’s nothing in this passage to suggest that Jesus was in any way agitated or on edge. My guess is, He may have yawned and rubbed the sleep out of His eyes while instructing the wind. He certainly shows no fear but displays tremendous authority based on the reaction of what we call “nature”.
The next chapter opens with a guy no one wants for company – A man who lives in tombs, cannot be subdued, and cuts himself regularly with stones – In today’s world he would be called schizophrenic. Mark peels back the label we would put on him and shoots for the heart of the matter. This man is controlled by evil. A fact clarified by the dialogue between Jesus and Gerasenes’ madman.
Take your time and read exactly what happens. When Jesus was at a distance, the man ran and fell on his knees in front of him. I don’t know about you but if I saw someone like that make a beeline for me, I’d head in the opposite direction with equal alacrity.
Jesus in this instance shows no fear. It’s as if he fully expects the man to submit to him and submit he does.
The self- proclaimed harbourer of six thousand demons kneels before the carpenter who just got off the boat and starts to plead for mercy even before Jesus says a word.
Evil in this case, regardless of its horde, is no match for the single standing Saviour. The story ends with Jesus ordering them out of the man. The demons obey right down to the last one and end up at the bottom of the lake after transitioning through a herd of pigs.
Still in chapter five: This time Jesus is dealing with two pressing needs. A girl on the verge of death and a woman who’s closing in on a decade and a half of disease. Anyone with even one hour of training in triage will tell you the girl should come first. The woman has survived for all this time and she can wait a few hours if need be. In this case, Jesus isn’t even aware of the woman until she comes forward and admits to touching Him, but He’s so full of power that a condition that has defied Doctors year after year bows after a single touch of the edge of his garment!
We rank situations by importance because we have only so much time and resources and we live in a world of opportunity cost. Those rules may work for us but when it comes to Jesus, earth-bound rules do not apply to the one who set the rules in place. Even though He is aware that Jairus’ kid is dying, Jesus doesn’t rush the woman along. He actually takes the time to affirm her and confirm her healing.
And then there’s the great mountain that all of humanity has bowed to since the first man.
Death.
We know nature, evil and disease bow to Jesus, but what’s going to happen when He meets the waterloo of mankind?
What happens after organ systems have failed and the heart has closed shop.
What can He do then?
That question is answered in Jairus’ house.
Some of us take a bit of time to get it and maybe that’s why Jesus would go on to do it again with the widow’s son and with Lazarus.
The final knockout to prove how limited death’s role had become, was delivered at Calvary- but that’s another story for another time.
In Jairus house, Jesus used two words, death got punched in the nose and Jairus’ previously-dead daughter gets up and has lunch!
Truth be told, I’ve read these stories a lot of times but this time it felt as if I was seeing God in a totally differ light.
Jesus faces most facets of human tragedy and prevails, not by yelling or being obnoxious but by being himself.
It leads me to the question the disciples asked after he calmed the storm.
Who is this?
I can only conclude that this is a God for whom the word mighty is wholly insufficient.
This is a God who is more than able to protect and provide for those who call him Father without breaking a sweat.
This is a God who is totally unfazed by the things that torpedo our peace.
His might is not in question, neither is his love. And when you stand between those two attributes there is absolutely nothing to be fretful about.
Nothing.