Obedience Over Insight
Alright, let's dive back into Mark 2:1-12, shall we? I mean, can you blame me for wanting to hang out with these roof-tearing, friend-carrying guys a little longer?
1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. - Mark 2:1-12
Now, let's zero in on the moment when Jesus told the paralyzed man, "Arise, take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house." (Mark 2:11 KJV) I don't know about you, but if I were that guy, I'd be thinking, "Uh, Jesus, have you noticed I can't walk?" But what did he do? He didn't question, he didn't hesitate, he didn't even try to figure it out. He just got up and walked, just like that.
Isn't that amazing? I mean, talk about faith! This guy didn't need to understand how it was going to happen. He just knew that if Jesus said it, it was as good as done. And you know what? That's precisely how we should approach our own lives.
I get it, though. It's not always easy to blindly obey. We like to know the hows and the whys. We want to have a plan. But here's the thing: God's plan is always better than ours. And sometimes, He asks us to do things that don't make sense to us. But that's where faith comes in.
So, how can we apply this to our lives? Well, it's simple. The next time God asks you to do something, don't question it. Don't try to figure it out. Just do it. Whether it's as big as moving to a new city or as small as reaching out to a neighbor, if God's asking, He's got a reason.
And who knows? Maybe, like the paralyzed man, we’ll do things we never thought possible—things like forgiving the unforgivable, loving the unlovable, or even just getting out of bed on a Monday morning.
So, let's take a page out of this guy's book, shall we? Let's stop trying to figure everything out and start trusting that God knows what He's doing. Let's stop questioning and start obeying. Because when we do, we're not just showing faith in God. We're showing faith in His plan for us. And that's something worth getting up for.