There are three things you never want to hear a doctor say:
1. Oops!
2. Hmm…I’ve never seen this before.
3. Oh, this is bad!
Well in today’s passage, a doctor told a Roman Soldier about his beloved servant and he must have said, “Oh, this is bad! Really, bad!” Let’s read
Luke 7:1-10
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. 2 At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. 3 When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. 4 So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, 5 “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” 6 So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. 7 I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. 8 I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” 9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” 10 And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
What is great faith? What does it look like? It looks the picture of this Roman soldier. Great faith is telling God our need and leaving it in His hands. It is trusting God to handle the situation.
This Roman soldier let Jesus know that his servant was sick but he understood that Jesus could heal anywhere, anytime, and anyway He chose. The Roman soldier was not demanding God to do it His way, but he entrusted the sick servant totally in God’s hands. That is great faith.
You and I demonstrate great faith, when we take our needs to God in prayer and put them in His hands and allow Jesus to do it His way. Let’s take our needs to God in prayer and trust Him to take care of our needs.
Let us pray!
Blessings,
Pastor Lee & Gidget Athey