John 4:49-50 "The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. (50) Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way."
After Jesus left Samaria, He went to Jerusalem, back to Galilee, and now He is
in Cana once again. As He was walking along, a nobleman approached him. This
man was apparently a part of the king's court. He had some authority in the
office of which he served. He told Jesus that his son was about to die and asked
Jesus to come heal him. We are told that he had heard of the other miracles
that Jesus had done and came with great hope that Jesus would follow him to his
house. Instead, Jesus looked at him and said, "Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye will not believe." The man urged Jesus even more diligently.
This is when Jesus said, "Go thy way; thy son liveth."
The nobleman believed the words of Jesus and started back home. As he was
walking back to his house He met his servants coming to him. They said to
him, "Thy son liveth!" He asked them what time did he begin to get
better? They told him the hour and he knew it was the exact time that Jesus had
spoken the words, "Go thy way; thy son liveth." He believed on
the Lord Jesus and all his household because of this great miracle that Jesus
performed.
I stop to think about what has taken place to this point. Jesus had said to the
man, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." We are
told the man turned and started back home. Apparently it was a long walk back
home because it was the next day when the servants met him with the good news.
I wonder what was going through the man's mind as he walked all that way before
meeting the servants. Was Jesus correct when he said you need to see signs and
wonders before you will believe? We know He was. When was the man's faith
sealed? Was it not when he "saw" that his son was better? Yes, he had
left Jesus with a hope that his son would be okay. But we are told specifically
that when it was confirmed the son began to get better at the same hour that
Jesus spoke, both he and his household believed.
For this man, in this instance, things turned out the way he
had requested them to happen. But what about those times when things do not
occur in the manner we ask? Is Jesus more worthy to be believed when things go
our way than if things do not turn out the way we want? My thought this morning
is that our Lord is worthy of our confidence and our trust at all times. Even
when things are different than we asked, we can know of a surety that the Lord
is working on our behalf to ultimately draw us closer to Him. Ultimately, this
man made his request, left it in Jesus' hands, believed the Lord would do what
was right, and started back home. I think of the beautiful hymn, "Take
your burdens to the Lord and leave it there." With Jesus, we are truly in
good hands!