Hey! You Stole My Miracle: 3 Lessons on God’s Timing – Lesson 1

Read for today: Luke 8:40-56

“Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the teacher any more.” Luke 8:49

 

Lesson 1: God’s timing is never too late.

Jairus knew Jesus could heal his dying daughter. If he could find Jesus, then there might be a chance.

As if God had heard his desperate prayer, there was Jesus! Pushing through the crowd, Jairus threw himself at Jesus’s feet. Please come, heal my daughter. Desperation gave way to hope as Jairus led Jesus through the masses. Oh God, let us make it in time.

And then, out of nowhere, Jesus stopped. He began to search the crowd for something or someone else. Who touched me? Jesus asked. Nobody responded. Jesus continued to wait, looking around. Precious time ticked by.

There are hundreds of people all around, why are you stopping to ask “who touched me?” Then a woman stepped out of the crowd, revealing that she had touched Jesus and because of it, was healed from a twelve-year-old disease.

Twelve-year-old. The age of Jairus’s daughter. The daughter who also needed Jesus to touch her with his healing powers. But now it was too late. Men from Jairus’s house came and said, Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the teacher any more. It’s over. This hemorrhaging woman had stolen Jairus’s miracle! While Jesus had stood there commending her on her faith, Jairus’s daughter had died. Her life was over. They were too late.

But God’s timing is never too late. In fact, it is perfect every time. However, our response to His perfect timing is usually one of four reactions: fear (as in Jairus), annoyance (as in the disciples), cynicism (as in Jairus’s household), or faith (as in the hemorrhaging woman).

God’s timing is about getting us to that place of faith. His seeming delay afforded one woman another chance in life, healing her body and strengthening her faith. To a scared family, their cynical household, and a frustrated group of disciples who all wanted a healing, God’s timing allowed for a bigger miracle: a resurrection.

As you go through this week, what are you waiting on God for? Instead of responding with worry or fear or frustration, ask God to give you faith. Remember, God loves you and He has a plan for you. He will bless you abundantly and make you a blessing to others. Trust His way. Trust His timing.

Dear God, It is so hard to wait for you. Make me fearless and give me the strength to believe that you have everything perfectly timed. Amen.

This week read about the blessings of waiting on God’s timing.

Day 2 – Jeremiah 29:11-12; Psalm 27:14

Day 3 – Romans 8:28-32

Day 4 – Isaiah 30:18; Lamentations 3:22-26

Day 5 – Psalm 130

 

 

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Steps to contentment: Step 5 – Share

For the last four weeks we have studied contentment. Contentment in the biblical sense is peace with God and satisfaction in the circumstances where God has placed you. We have been comparing contentment to a lush, green garden. As we wrap up our study on contentment, let’s review the necessary steps in the care of our garden.

In week 1, we learned to weed out distraction by holding fast in faith to God, the master gardener. In week 2, we understood the need to protect our valuable time with God. In week 3, we remembered to water our thirsty gardens by tapping into the living waters offered through Jesus. And last week, week 4, we discovered that contentment is not really about our happiness, our comfortableness, or our desires being fulfilled. Instead, contentment is simply about being in the center of God’s will. In this last week, we will address the purpose of your garden of contentment.

Reading for today: John 15:1-17

The pursuit of contentment must never be confused with the pursuit of happiness or the pursuit of positivism. While happiness and positivism are often welcome side effects of contentment, the pursuit of contentment is more altruistic than you may have originally thought.

Rick’s cucumbers – photo taken by Rick

My favorite harvest-time question to hear is: “Do you want some of our bounty?” My friends, Rick and Chris, have a beautiful, backyard vegetable garden and fruit orchard, and they have always offered to share their harvest surplus. But surplus from their garden is never one or two tomatoes and a lone cucumber. Their surplus borders on farmers’ market quantities. Trays of tomatoes, grocery bags of zucchini and summer squash, and buckets full of cucumbers. My family and I eat as much as we can, and then I freeze or process whatever we can’t finish. Currently, there are 9 jars if pickles in the refrigerator. And in the freezer, I have 8 bags of shredded zucchini and 2 quarts of roasted tomato sauce.

Rick’s tomatoes- photo taken by Rick

I have, because they share.

Why are my garden and its fruit so important? Fruit is a sign of a healthy, thriving garden. A healthy, fruitful, thriving garden means we are connected to the Master Gardener and His Son is at the center of our garden. We are content. Our desires match His desires. And when our desires match God’s desires, we understand that what God desires most is that all people would come to know Him. How do people come to know Him and begin to grow their own gardens of contentment? Through the shared seeds of your fruit.

We are not in the business of secret gardens. What good is a healthy, bursting garden, if it is not seen or shared with others? Gardens are meant to bloom, to be fruitful, and ultimately to serve their gardener. What better way to serve the Master Gardener, then to use our fruits to help grow the gardens of others.

Step 5 in the pursuit of contentment: Share your fruit so that others may grow.

Dear God our Master Gardner, It is by Your power and for Your glory that we are content. Grow our gardens of contentment so that we may bear fruit and share our joy with others. Amen.

Day 2 – 1 Timothy 2:3-4; John 6:40

Day 3 – Galatians 5:22-25 (the Message)

Day 4 – Psalm 1:1-3

Day 5 – Isaiah 58:11; Jeremiah 31:12-14

 

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Steps to contentment: Step 4 – Center

Welcome to week 4 in our study on contentment. Contentment in the biblical sense is peace with God and satisfaction in the circumstances where God has placed you.

Read Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17; 3:1-24 and Matthew 26:36-42

There were two gardens. In the first garden, everything was perfect. God had planted the garden. The plants were lush and filled with fruit. In the center of the garden grew the tree of life. A couple lived there. They trusted God and were content and satisfied, having everything they needed.

The second garden, on the other hand, was dark and dangerous. Although familiar, it was not a happy place that night. In the center of this garden a distressed man lay praying fervently for help to the God he, too, trusted. This isn’t what I want to do. This doesn’t feel good to me. I am not happy about this. Please, please take it away, Lord. He had found himself in that garden because he had come to restore the tree of life that had been lost to the couple in the first garden.

You see, they had stepped out of the master Gardner’s will. And as a horrible consequence, their rebellion brought sin, death, and sadness into a once perfect garden. Ever since that fateful day, we have been chasing down the peace and contentment that was lost.

But God did not abandon that first couple or us. He promised a Savior. One who would become for us the new tree of life.

In the midst of this unhappy, imperfect garden, a sorrowful Jesus taught us one of the most important steps in our path toward contentment. He finished his earnest prayer by saying, Not my will, but Yours be done. Jesus stood in that dark, scary garden and centered himself on God’s will. He completely trusted God. Even though it meant taking on all the sin, all the death, and all the sadness of this world.

Contentment has never really been about our happiness, our comfortableness, or our desires being fulfilled. Contentment is simply about being in the center of God’s will.

The only time we should feel discontent, is when we are in a situation that is pulling us away from God’s will. And in those dark moments, cry out to God, like Jesus did in the garden. And then remember that Jesus is for us the new tree of life at the very center of God’s garden. Center your garden on Him.

Step 4 in the pursuit of contentment: Center your garden on God’s will.

Dear Lord, Let Your will be done always and bring me into the center of Your will. Make me content. Amen.

This week, let’s read about what it looks like to center yourself on God’s will.

Day 2 – 1 John 2:16-17; Matthew 6:10

Day 3 – Proverbs 3:5-6; James 1:5

Day 4 – John 10:7-11; Hebrews 13:20-21

Day 5 –  1 Timothy 2:4-6; Proverbs 13:12; Revelation 22:14

Next week we will conclude our study on contentment by talking about the harvest!

 

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Steps to contentment: Step 3 – Water

Welcome to week 3 in our study on contentment. Contentment in the biblical sense is peace with God and satisfaction in the circumstances where God has placed you.

If contentment is a lush garden, then being and staying content is a constant battle for turf. Gardening is not simply planting and enjoying. While those are aspects of a good garden, successful gardening requires constant nutrition.

Reading for this week: John 4:3-26; 39-42

In terms of gardening, the nutrition formula for growth is pretty basic: soil, sun, air, and water. And of those 4 basics, I really only have to take care of one – water. The sun, the soil, and the air are not necessarily in my department. So maintenance of my precious garden shouldn’t be that hard. Get a bucket or find the hose and water those plants. But like the woman at the well, it’s the continuous need to come back for water that can get monotonous and wearisome (v.15).

In the spring, my momentum is going. I am happy to finally be outdoors. I am motivated with visions of red tomatoes and full baskets of flowers. But then after awhile, I get a little bored and start skipping the only job I have – the watering.

Unfortunately, my inconsistent watering inevitably leads to fewer tomatoes. And it makes other vegetables – like my cucumbers and lettuce – taste bitter. My flowers are dried out. My herbs are limp and thirsty. And the life my garden had, slowly dies. There is nothing more devastating then coming to the end of a growing season only to realize I have wasted it.

That’s why I am very interested in installing a drip irrigation system. I have no idea how to do that, but with my handy husband and pinterest at my disposal, I think we can come up with something. Knowing my plants could continuously get exactly the right amount of water could make gardening so much easier and more productive.

Trying to maintain contentment or happiness on my own is like having to go out looking for water sources everyday. It may bring temporary contentment, but I need to keep going out for more to maintain that contentment. And when I can’t find a good source or I stop looking, I inevitably become dry and bitter and unproductive. Contentment is no longer within my reach.

That’s the amazing thing about what Jesus offers us through the Holy Spirit. It’s like a drip irrigation system for my soul. It is a truer, more consistent source of watering that I can tap into daily. And as Jesus told the woman at the well, with the water that Jesus offers, it’s like a spring welling up to eternal life, and I will never be thirsty again.

It’s time to water.

Step 3 in the pursuit of contentment: Water your garden by tapping into the only everlasting water source.

Dear Lord, I am constantly thirsty for something. But I spend a lot of valuable time looking for water from other sources. Help me to tap into Your everlasting water. Quench my thirst and bring me contentment. Amen.

This week, let’s read about those deep waters that God offers through His Spirit.

Day 2 – Psalm 1:1-3

Day 3 – Jeremiah 17:7-8

Day 4 – John 7:37-38

Day 5 – John 6:35-40

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