May 2: Of Solutions to Stubborn Stupidity

Judges 15:1-16:31

John 2:1-25

Psalm 103:1-22

Proverbs 14:17-19

I have a wonderful assistant.  When she started, and there was a problem, I had to walk her through what she needed to do.  Today, over a year later, I tell her what the problem is and she knows what to do.  Sometimes she does things differently than I would, even - but I trust her, and her solutions are often better than my own. 

Which is why I feel really stupid that, for as long as I've tried to walk with the Lord, I still struggle to trust him the same way when I have problems. When things go wrong, I find myself not just telling God about the problem, I find myself itemizing the solution I want from Him.  I am prepared to trust a young assistant but unwilling to trust the Almighty God: pretty stupid, right?

This is why today's reading is so very instructive.  

 - Jesus's mother said to Him, "They have no more wine." - v3

Like me today, Mary brought her problems to Jesus.  But unlike me, she didn't specify solutions.  She doesn't calculate how much wine is needed, doesn't tell her Son to go to the local liquor store to pick up a few bottles of red and white.  No.  All she did was tell her Son the problem: they have no more wine."  She trusted He would understand.

 - "Woman, why do you involve Me?" Jesus replied.  "My hour has not yet come."  His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you." - v4-5

You ever find yourself wondering why God didn't answer, or confused about the answer you get?  From the standpoint of a mother in need, Jesus's answer made no sense.  It didn't even address the problem she raised.  But what did she say in response?  Trust Him.  Do what He tells you.  Mary responded with faith that Jesus could not, would not ignore Her concern.  

We know the rest of the story.  Jesus doesn't take up a collection, or pull out his savings; He doesn't run to the local liquor store to buy more wine.  Instead, He does what no one could have imagined - He turns water into wine far better than the bride and groom had served, and gave the wedding party far better than it expected to get.  Mary couldn't possibly have known what He was going to do.  She simply gave Him the problem, and trusted He knew best.  

I've known that story in my life too - when God's answers were so much better than anything I might have itemized in my checklist for Him when I brought Him my problem. Why, then, is it still so hard to simply present the problem, then sit back and trust?  Why was it so much easier for Mary?

The only answer I can think of is this: of everyone in Jesus's life, more than any of His disciples, Mary knew Him the best.  She knew the circumstances of His conception, His birth, His life.  In Luke 2:19, after the angelic hosts and shepherds came for Jesus's birth, and in 2:51, after they'd found Jesus in the temple and then moved to Nazareth, we read that Mary "treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart."

Jesus, I too want to learn to trust You the way your mother did.  And I think that to do that, I need to get to know You far better than I do today.  Open my eyes to see You in Your creation, to see Your hand on my life; fill my heart with the desire to seek You in scripture, and overwhelm my mind with the realization of Who You are.