THE WORD OF JESUS IN DESPERATE TIMES, PART 2, LUKE 7.1-17

Humility and desperate compassion are the birthplace of abundant faith in the Living Voice of God.

Following the stunning, now famous declaration of faith of the Capernaum Centurion, look at the response of Jesus to this kind of humility-driven trust.

He is amazed!

Think for a moment what it would be like to see the Son of God amazed. Just let your imagination go there for a second…

Consider some of the synonyms used in the definition of the Greek term (thaumazo) used here: to wonder at, to marvel at, to be astonished out of one’s senses; awestruck.

Imagine now, we are talking about the same person who created the entire universe. Paul says in Colossians that, “… in him (Jesus) all things were created…. all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1.16-17).

This Creator of ALL THINGS is “astonished out of His senses” when He witnesses the humble faith of one man. The One for whom we are to be “awestruck” is stunned by a man who dared to believe all the things he’d been seeing and hearing and applied it to his time of desperation.

Jesus is ultimately saying, “Remember those things I was telling you a few days ago? I asked you the question, ‘Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?’  I compared the one who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice to a person who dug deep and made a foundation that withstood the storms beating against it. Well, now let Me do you one better… There it is right there! I’ve been waiting to show you My words put into action and what this Gentile just said is what it is all about.

I’ve never seen anything like it!”

And as ironic as this is, the Son of God is just as awestruck every time we practice this same kind humbled faith.

When in the heart of a painful relationship we say to God, “Say the word…,” He is happily stunned. When our children seem to be off track and we turn in faith for Him to parent them better than we could – He smiles. When the temptation of an old habit comes snooping around one more time, He is astonished out of His senses when we bow to Him and cry out saying, “Father, I can’t but You can.”

Father, we live in a world where we fear to be broken. Our flesh demands that we elevate ourselves so that that brokenness is masked. We tell ourselves that You are displeased with our scars. We fear others thinking us damaged and of no value. Lord of all compassion, reverse in us this perception. Let us see that You are never more proud of us than when we come to You in broken humility. For, “Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom…. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51.6,17). Amen.