THE POWER OF OBEDIENCE

John 2: 5 “His mother said to the servants, whatever He says to you, do it.”

I heard somebody today; repeat this quote by the mother of Jesus at the wedding in Cana when she wanted Him to resolve the problem of their finished wine which was a potentially shameful situation for the people having the party. It just could not happen that wine would run out during a wedding ….shame!!! Shame!!! Shame!!! So that in a way, Jesus was asked, by His mum, to deliver the people from the imminent shame and disgrace, that seemed set to befall them. The situation was already bad but thank God for what His mum knew about Him. She knew He was able to do something about their situation. She was aware He had come to take away our shame, poverty, and mourning; restore our joy and glory and make our joyful amongst several other things.

I dare to suggest that when Jesus said “woman my time has not yet come”, He wasn’t just saying it isn’t time for me to start operating in the miraculous; He was also saying, “I need to die and be resurrected to actually accomplish some of these things”. It was more than just turning water to wine, it was much deeper. He turned their lack into fullness and took away imminent shame.

Clearly, Mary, though mother of Jesus, was well in tune with the power of obedience. It is amazing that she did not bother to find out what Jesus would have them do before she said “do whatever He says”. What if He told them to kill themselves? She was confident that His instructions would do well. She must have known the scripture that says “His thoughts toward us are thoughts of good to give us an expected end”. What faith and belief in God yet she brought Him into this world. Today in the times we live in, we would want to first hear Him before we are bold enough to say “do it” and anyway, even if you say so and they know it is Jesus speaking – would they do what He says to do? Selah.

One of the most fearful and arrogant statements I ever heard in my entire life from a believer was that he would make the decision he needed to make and then ask God to bless it. The height of stupidity: he definitely had it the wrong way round. You give the orders and God does the obeying and you hope to have good success - very interesting! Man in himself was never able to make the right decision otherwise he would not require the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

One of the wisest things in life is for man to take advantage of the presence of God on the inside of him/her. It is a privilege to have Him lead us in every situation. To be guided by the one that knows the end from the beginning. Indeed, whatever He tells us to do is the best thing to do. It may require more hard work than we think is necessary. They had to get pots, more than they had previously, fill them with water and He turned it all into wine (sweeter than they had). When He takes away your shame, He does it in such a way that all will see the glory that He puts around you.

Doesn’t He know how to fill our mouths with laughter? All the work we are required to do mean nothing when compared with what we get at the end of it all. Who would have thought He would change water to wine just like that when He had never done it before. It is truly best to do what He says to do because we never know how He intends to solve the problem. Tough - Yes it is. Who doesn’t fear the unknown?