Matthew records the day Jesus took a bunch of demons out of two men and allowed them to enter a herd of pigs.
The possessed ‘pork chops’ ran off a steep bank, and into a lake. Unskilled at swimming, they drowned.
“Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus.”
Wonderful idea, I thought. They come to see the man capable of such a miracle.
They rushed to Jesus, and “when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region”.
What? Jesus’ presence upset their ‘bacon’ intake, and they ask Him to leave?
As much as I’m tempted to judge them, I have my own ‘trunk of tree’ to pull out of my own eye.
It’s been four and a half years and counting in the adoption process with our girls. Snails move faster than our paperwork. I wish I could congratulate myself for pressing forth patiently. Yet, a few Mondays ago, there was I disappointed with Jesus, just like the villagers.
Every believer at a point asks ‘Why?’ or its fancy version ‘How come?’.
I asked both.
“Why are you so silent Lord? How come people that don’t even pray to You make more progress than we are? We have access to You, don’t we?”
I get easily flustered with Jesus when He chooses to work in ways I may not understand, and when His timing doesn’t match mine.
While I think ‘bacon’, He thinks soul. When I choose the material, He goes for the spiritual. And if this waiting works patience in me and my family for the glory of God, who am I to grumble?
On a side note, Jesus owes us nothing. He paid it all on the cross. Even if He were to never grant us one more wish, we should love Jesus for WHO he is and not for WHAT He gives.
Are we courageous enough to sing with the prophet:
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.”
Habakkuk 3:17-19