There’s something about consistency that I find comforting. As a food lover and somewhat of a Type A, I tend to order the same meals when I’m out at my favorite restaurant and I tend to make the same meals when I’m in the kitchen. And when I’m trying out a new restaurant, I tend to opt for meals with my favorite ingredients.
Garlic and onions? Check.
Cheese? Check.
Fish? Check.
Pasta and pesto? Check and check.
I like what I like. My tastes never seem to vary—except for my recent surprise love affair with brussel sprouts, but I digress—I’m consistent.
One thing I love about God is that He is very consistent, but somehow also full of surprises. The way He does things is surprising, but His nature is consistently consistent. His consistent nature means we can have an expectation to see His goodness in every area of life throughout our lives.
From Genesis to Revelation, God continues to call out to His people, wanting to love and care for us. Even when His people reject Him, He consistently moves in their best interest instead of pushing them away.
So we shouldn’t be surprised to see Jesus’s overwhelming compassion as He interacted with those He met, even when it proved costly to Him. What felt like just another normal day for so many was upended by the power of God. The everyday lives of those who were hurting, oppressed, and desperate were completely turned around by one encounter with Jesus who was not content to see them go unfulfilled. Going outside of the norms of His day and other’s expectations, He was tireless in His pursuit of people.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. 12 A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. 13 The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.
John 10:11–13
Jesus displayed the nature of our Heavenly Father, which stood (and still stands) in stark contrast to the character of the ruling leaders and people of influence in His day. When people were hungry, Jesus fed them. When people were condemned, Jesus freed them. And when people were hurting, Jesus healed them.
Because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, we are not wrong to expect to have our needs met, to live in freedom, or experience healing.
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10
One way to know what abundant life looks like is to take note of what Jesus removed from the lives of the people He encountered.
“5 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. 5 Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” 8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”John 5:2–14
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ” 12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
While it’s common for people to feel sympathy or even empathize with others, very few are willing to take on others’ challenges as their own. Most people are wrapped up in their own lives, wanting to find solutions to the problems they face. They don’t feel they have the energy, resources, or attention span to spend on others, which is understandable and also the exact opposite of God’s approach.
The majority of people we meet will be perfectly content with the state of our lives as long as it doesn’t infringe upon them. It’s human nature. Very few people care about the things in your life the way you care about the things in your life. If you find those people, know that it’s a rare quality. However, God always takes an active interest in our lives.
When Jesus saw the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus thought the man had been in that state long enough and presented him with a solution. Once the man was healed, leaders somehow overlooked the miraculous, upset by the fact that the man, now healed, was breaking a law by carrying his mat, as instructed. However, that animosity was soon turned onto Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.
15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, [d]and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
John 5:15–20
Although political and religious leaders were upset with Jesus throughout His entire life, Jesus was not intimidated and He didn’t draw back. Instead, He insisted on bringing the reality of God as a good Father into the lives of those who desired Him.
What do you desire from God today?
Regardless of the challenges we face, Jesus remains the stalwart solution. Unafraid, undaunted, He is an ever present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). No challenge is too big because nothing is impossible with God.
Healing and restoration? Check.
Protection? Check.
Provision? Check.
Forgiveness and Freedom? Check and check.
While others have no interest or hope in you receiving the solutions to the challenges you face, you can rest assured that your needs are not overlook by God. He has made every solution available to you. By sending His Son and giving His Spirit, He’s performed the greatest act of love, making it possible for you to say that you’re never alone, never without, never at a deficit. Unlike so many, He cares and He’s invested.
So I’ll ask you again, what is it you desire from God today? And I’m not even asking how are you going to get what you desire. Instead, take those desires to the One who stands able, willing, and ready to meet your desires with tangible answers, regardless of what others think.
Meditate upon the character of our God and His consistent desire to bring powerful solutions into your everyday and completely change the trajectory and altitude of your life. He is good. And it bears repeating, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Until we see Him,
Fia