Great Faith

January 10

Genesis 19-20

Psalm 7:1-8

Proverbs 1:28-31

Matthew 8:1-17

Great Faith

“The centurion replied, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.  But just say the word, and my servant will be healed’…. When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.”  Matthew 8:8,10 NIV

When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus agreed to come with him and heal the servant.  I would have been thrilled.  Jesus said yes to my request.  I had His full attention, and He was coming to my house.  I would get to watch Him perform a miracle right in front of my eyes.  But the centurion reacted very differently than I would have.  He even responded differently than Jesus thought he would.  He told Jesus that he didn’t want to bother Him to come all that way.  He was completely and totally convinced that Jesus was the Son of God and if He was the Son of God, then He didn’t have to touch the servant or be in his presence.  All He had to do to heal the man was speak and it would be done from wherever He was.  Jesus was astonished.  I am guessing it takes a lot to astonish Jesus.  He has seen everything and heard everything.  But the Bible says He was astonished by the man’s faith.  He told the centurion to go home, and it would be done as he had asked. He left Jesus and returned home.  He didn’t have a cell phone so that he could call home and make sure the servant was healed.  And just in case he wasn’t well, maybe he could get Jesus to go ahead and come with him.   He just trusted that it was done and left to go home.  And when he arrived, he found that the servant had been healed right when Jesus said he would be. 

When we receive an answer to our prayers, do we believe it will be done?  Do we thank Him and wait expectantly to see it fulfilled or do we continue to worry and fret and try to handle it ourselves until we see the answer.  Jesus told Thomas in John 20:29, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (NIV) Lord, let me be like the centurion who believed without seeing.   “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”  Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)