If Peter, around the fire, honestly confesses, with a shake of his head, that he does not know the Man who stands trial just a few feet away, how much more honest are our words when we say the same?
Most of us would admit, like Peter, that this Jesus doesn't look anything like we thought He would. His power looks like weakness. His judgment looks like grace. His wisdom looks like folly. Everything we expect to see in the God of the universe stands on its head and it's hard to figure out just who He is.
This is no more true than in the trials and the troubles of life. When the bills keep coming long after the paychecks have stopped. When the diagnosis is terminal but life still seems just a tease away. When we turn toward friends only to find them turning away. Bad things happen and we find ourselves wondering, "Isn't our God supposed to be good?"
The difficult truth is that if God were so good that everything was always good, we'd never get to know how truly good God really is. It would be as if Jesus had lived without performing a single miracle.
Without the sick among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Healer. The sick themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the blind among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Revealer. The blind themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the crippled among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Restorer. The lame themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the sinners among them, the people would never have seen Jesus as Redeemer. The sinners themselves would never have had a reason to hope in Him.
What is this Jesus, if He is not Healer, Revealer, Restorer, Redeemer? What is this God if He is not Savior?
It is here that we have this whole Jesus thing backward. We spend our lives believing that faith should get us to a point where bad things no longer happen because God is good (and we are God's). We believe that believing in Him should rescue us from the troubles of this world, should spare us the pain of living here. We read the Bible and recognize that God is good, but we forget that we only see that when people are broken. The revelation of our God for all His goodness depends on the reality of ourselves for so much less.
Because our flesh is broken, God is Healer. And God is good.
Because our eyes are darkened, God is Revealer. And God is good.
Because we are lame (and boy, are we lame!), God is Restorer. And God is good.
Because we are sinners, God is Redeemer. And God is good.
Because we are broken down, we're looking for a God lifted up. And the Cross is where we find Him. And God is very good.
It's a hard concept to grasp because there are remnants of Eden in our hearts that remind us we were never made to need God; we were made to love Him. But it is precisely when we did not need God that we stopped understanding exactly who He is, and so we entered a place where we need Him and God has not failed to follow us into this hollow place.
Life can be tough. Times can be hard. It's easy to look at the trials around us and wonder if we even know this God of ours. If He looks anything like we thought He would. But it is precisely the tough times that reveal God for precisely who He is.
Which is far beyond anything we could ask or imagine.
And nothing less than all that He promised to be.
Without the sick among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Healer. The sick themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the blind among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Revealer. The blind themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the crippled among them, the people would have never seen Jesus as Restorer. The lame themselves may never have had a reason to hope in Him.
Without the sinners among them, the people would never have seen Jesus as Redeemer. The sinners themselves would never have had a reason to hope in Him.
What is this Jesus, if He is not Healer, Revealer, Restorer, Redeemer? What is this God if He is not Savior?
It is here that we have this whole Jesus thing backward. We spend our lives believing that faith should get us to a point where bad things no longer happen because God is good (and we are God's). We believe that believing in Him should rescue us from the troubles of this world, should spare us the pain of living here. We read the Bible and recognize that God is good, but we forget that we only see that when people are broken. The revelation of our God for all His goodness depends on the reality of ourselves for so much less.
Because our flesh is broken, God is Healer. And God is good.
Because our eyes are darkened, God is Revealer. And God is good.
Because we are lame (and boy, are we lame!), God is Restorer. And God is good.
Because we are sinners, God is Redeemer. And God is good.
Because we are broken down, we're looking for a God lifted up. And the Cross is where we find Him. And God is very good.
It's a hard concept to grasp because there are remnants of Eden in our hearts that remind us we were never made to need God; we were made to love Him. But it is precisely when we did not need God that we stopped understanding exactly who He is, and so we entered a place where we need Him and God has not failed to follow us into this hollow place.
Life can be tough. Times can be hard. It's easy to look at the trials around us and wonder if we even know this God of ours. If He looks anything like we thought He would. But it is precisely the tough times that reveal God for precisely who He is.
Which is far beyond anything we could ask or imagine.
And nothing less than all that He promised to be.
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