Taking Jesus at His Word: Sunday Devotion

John 4: 46-53 Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death. “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” “Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.” Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

This story is truly my story. Once when my 10-month-old son, Malcolm, had meningitis, I was told that after 18 days of fever, he was close to being physically and mentally challenged for the rest of his life. I was so angry with God that I couldn’t pray.

Then, the next day after that conversation with the doctor, a strange man parked on an Atlanta downtown street asked to pray for me. I was afraid of getting in his van, but he said to me, “Sometimes you have to trust somebody.” With the door open and one eye opened, I listened to the man pray so fervently. At the end of the prayer, he looked me in the eyes, and he said, “When you get to the hospital tonight, your baby will be well!” I left him with thanks but much skepticism.

When I arrived at the hospital after midnight, as I worked until eleven p.m., a nurse ran up to me and told me that the fever had broken. The next day I learned that his fever broke at the exact time the man spoke to me. I took Malcolm home the next day, no meningitis found in his last spinal tap.

Every time I read this story, I am reminded that we can take Jesus at his word, that he is not like man and cannot lie. I remember that as God, He spoke and the world was created, with seas, oceans, mountains, and a variety of animals and fish that boggles the mind and soothes the soul.

So, regardless of what is happening in your life today, open your Bible and read the promises of God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Like the royal official whose son was healed and this very unroyal blogger whose son was healed, believe even though you cannot see or understand His ways. Yes, I know that some prayers for healing aren’t answered, at least not as we wish in the land of the living. But, there is peace in knowing that Jesus keeps His word, and that the promises of God are true.