I think one of the saddest things I have heard of are the people of God who miss Jesus.
The people of Israel from the early days of their calling to be the children of God were given prophecy after prophecy regarding the coming of God their salvation. Messiah.
Hundreds of years passed and they waited, eagerly anticipating God among them.
And then He came.
Announced by the angels.
Confirmed over and over again.
As Matthew so succinctly put it in his gospel (written to the Jewish people to show them that Jesus was truly the Messiah)…”all this fulfilled what the prophet had said.”
Jesus even announced Himself too…
Luke 4:16-21 (NIV) 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
What was their response? They rejected Him.
Why? They were looking in all the wrong places for the Messiah and Jesus did not come in the way they had presumed in their human thinking that He would come.
Before you write them off as stupid people I hope you will realize that we are as guilty as they are of not seeing Jesus because we are looking for Him in the wrong places.
Have you ever found yourself in the situation where you want to hear from God to get direction for your life? You are in a difficult moment and you need clarity. Things are cloudy. So you decide to fast and pray and seek His face. And you do.
For days and weeks you seek Him.
You pray.
You sing and listen to worship music.
You cry.
You beg him to show you any sin in your life that is keeping you from His blessings.
And…nothing!
Have you expected, believed, had faith for something that just didn’t happen, leaving you dejected and confused?
You waited for Jesus to show up and it seemed like you missed Him. You could not see Him
Like the blind man. You hear the buzzing of the crowd around you. People say he is near but you can’t see Him.
May I suggest that maybe you are looking for him in the wrong places.
How often we want to see Jesus but we focus on the wrong area. I would like to suggest that most of us are looking for Him in the moments of storm and chaos in our lives and we focus our gaze on the storm, waiting for Him to stride through the storm when the truth is we miss seeing Him because He is already with us.
We say things like…
Lord I’m in a hard marriage, why can’t I just leave the relationship?
God, I’m broke. I don’t know how I am going to make it financially.
God I need a job desperately, why can’t I get a job. Where are you?
God my kids are making terrible life choices – please change the situation.
You see what we are doing in those moments is wanting God to show up on our terms, answer our questions and prove himself in a way that pleases us.
When He does not we get disappointed and angry and frustrated.
We yell and say that we can’t see Jesus so either He does not care or He does not exist.
Instead of focusing on the problems why not look for Him in His promises.
Understand that God wants us to see Him on His terms. You see if He just gives us an answer we may never change and be made in His image and likeness – we would just use Him as a spare tire, but when He shows up in His way He reveals Himself so much more to us in a way that transforms us.
Discussion Questions:
How often do you find yourself in a situation where your expectations of God prevents you from recognizing His presence and work in your life? What steps can you take to recognize this and enact the proper response?
“Focus on God's promises rather than our problems.” Can you think of a time when you shifted your focus from your struggles to God's promises? How did it impact your perspective?
What steps can we take to align our expectations with God's ways and surrender our desires to His will?
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