I had on a VERY cheesy movie in the background today. It was a “Christian-based” film. It is about a girl who believes in Jesus and the verse in the bible that says if you have faith the grain of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Because she believes and prays over people, they start to get healed. And she starts healing EVERYONE. People are showing up on the girl’s doorstep with every ailment wanting her to touch them and pray for them. I’ll be honest…I stopped watching after a while, because it was pretty theologically lacking. But it got me to thinking about the book of John study that I’m in with Table 8.
We see multiple verses in the Bible that talk about the people who wanted to see Jesus perform the miracles. In the first 7 chapters, we see Him tell the Samaritan woman about her life without her telling Him, He heals a child that is in a different location than Him, He heals a man that hasn’t walked in 38 years and we also see Him feed a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children.
The crowds keep following Him wanting Him to do more signs and miracles. He tells one of the people in John 5:48, “So Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.’”
He’s told them who He is. To some, He has flat out told them He came from God the Father. To others, He’s used imagery that they would be familiar with. But what He says bears no weight on them without the signs and wonders. On top of it all, no matter how many miracles He performs, many just won’t believe who He says He is without even more “proof.” But how much proof is needed?
Sometimes, we do the same thing with God even today. We ask God for things yet continue to question and ask for clarity when it’s already been given. Maybe it’s not where we really want to go. Maybe it’s a different outcome than we wanted. Or maybe it’s exactly what we’ve been hoping for. However, we keep asking for more, noticing what He’s already done but still wanting more to prove it.
How much does God have to prove who He is? He is The Beginning and The End (Revelation 21:6, 22:13). He is the Author and Perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He needed only to speak the world into existence (Genesis 1). We don’t need Him to prove Himself. He proved Himself when He sent His Son, the perfect Lamb, to the earth to die on a cross and raise from the grave three days later!
I pray that as we week God, we see the proof that has already been given to us and trust Him and what He says!
~Erin
Iron Porch 