Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Nov 3 2020 - John 4:43-54 – Your son will live

The story in today's passage is simple and straightforward. A ruler in Galilee had a child who was seriously ill and on the point of death. He came to Jesus, begging him to heal his son. Jesus' initial reply seems dismissive, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe" (John 4:48). But when the man again begged Jesus to save his son, Jesus did so with a word, "Go, your son will live" (4:50). At that very moment the fever left his son and he began to recover.

It's a simple story, but it’s one that is deeply perplexing. We have some friends whose daughter was very ill. Many of us were praying for her – praying daily; praying fervently – but she seemed to get no better. Another mutual friend told us that she got angry with God, telling him it's about time he did something to heal the child. Our experience seemed so far removed from that of the ruler who came to Jesus asking for his son to be healed. Jesus' initial comment that the people of Galilee only believed because they saw signs, seems to rebound upon us; how can we believe that God hears and answers prayer when he does nothing despite our cries to him?

There are many things that perplex us and we have many unanswered questions. Pete Greig wrote the book God on Mute out of the painful experience of unanswered prayer concerning his wife’s chronic illness. From the things that the Lord taught him through this experience he has been able to minister to many others in similar situations. He writes:

"I don't know why your prayers haven't been answered. But I do know that the very best thing about our lives – the most incredible thing we've got going for us – is that the Creator of a million stars is entirely and eternally good, that He is utterly caught up in the details of our situation, and that He cares for us more than we care for ourselves."

The most perplexing thing of all is that God should love us so much that he sent his Son to save us. The most amazing thing is that Jesus went to the cross for us. If God did not spare his own Son, we can be confident of his love for us. And it is this confidence that keeps us pleading for his mercy upon those we love, even when prayer seems to go unanswered.

We know also that one day Jesus shall come to put all things right. When he appears there will be no more sickness, disability or pain. Hurt and injustice will flee away and the tears will be wiped from every eye. In that day, the last enemy, death, will be destroyed and we shall enter into the liberating joy and fullness of resurrection life. 

And so we live now in the hope of that day. Sometimes our prayers go unanswered. Those we love not only suffer sickness, they may be taken from us by death. But they are taken only that they might one day be returned to us perfectly well and fully alive. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead underwrites our hope that “All shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Risen Lord Jesus, I pray for those who are suffering from disease, hunger and injustice. Lord, heal this broken world and turn tears into laughter even as you will do in the day of your coming. And in this meantime help me to bring healing to those who suffer, comfort to those who mourn, light to those who walk in darkness and hope to those who feel the weight of despair.

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Nov 3 2019 - Psalm 126 – Return from exile

We have been looking at the latter chapters of Isaiah in which the focus is upon the promise of God and the hope of his people for a return from Exile. Psalm 126 is a psalm of praise for that return, but it is also a prayer for the Lord to continue his work of restoring his people.

The first three verses of this psalm express the joy of the Israelites when they had returned from captivity in Babylon. It seemed to them too good to be true – it felt like a dream. Not only were they filled with joyful laughter, nations around them also took notice of the fact that the Lord had come to their aid. Their testimony is that:

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. (v. 3)

Now as the pilgrims make their way to the rebuilt temple to celebrate Passover, or one of the other annual festivals, they remember all that God had done for them in their songs of praise. But, at the same time, they are only too aware that 'things aren’t what they used to be,' nor do they match up to the extravagant promises they had heard from the prophets. The rebuilt temple did not possess the same splendour as Solomon's temple, nor had its dedication been accompanied by the manifest presence and glory of God. The returning exiles were not as numerous as the Israelites had been before the kingdom was divided and its peoples had been scattered. Parts of the land remained in ruins. Their experience had not matched the description given by Amos:

The days are coming,’ declares the Lord,
‘when the reaper will be overtaken by the ploughman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
    and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. (Amos 9:13-14)

It had been wonderful to return from exile, but at the same time the experience had proved disappointing. God's people had hoped for so much more, and continued to hope for so much more. So thanksgiving for all that God has done turns into prayer for more of the same:

Restore our fortunes, LORD,
    like streams in the Negev. (Psalm 126:4)

The Negev was a dry and arid region to the south where rain hardly ever fell. There were many dry river beds baked hard in the scorching sun. But on occasions, rain falling in the distant hills would result in fresh flowing water suddenly rushing down the slopes to transform these dry wadis. This is what God's people are longing for; not for showers but for torrents of God's blessing renewing their lives and turning their weeping into joyful song.

We can readily identify with this psalm. God has done great things for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. In him we have been redeemed, our sins have been forgiven and we who once were far off (exiled) from God have been brought to stand in his presence and experience his embrace. We are truly blessed and are deeply thankful. But at the same time it is not enough. We want to be freed of the continued enticement of sin and made perfectly like our Saviour. We want to be freed not only from the fear of death but from death itself and its foreshadowings in sickness, pain and disability. And even that is not enough; we want many more to come to know the salvation of the Lord Jesus. Nor is that enough: we want evil to be exiled from our world; we want war and hatred to cease; we want the whole of creation to be made anew. We long for the exile of this world to come to an end.

Restore, O Lord, the honour of your name, in works of sovereign power come shake the earth again. That [all] may see and come with reverent fear to the living God whose kingdom shall outlast the years.

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Peter Misselbrook