He Will Take Care Of It
March 16, 2022·Mike Gentry
I love the way the Lord works things out. My wife and I have recently started watching The Chosen, a TV series about the life of Jesus, created by Dallas Jenkins. I just watched an episode based out of Matthew 4:24, in which a myriad of people are coming to Jesus to be healed from all kinds of sicknesses and issues they were dealing with. In the episode, there’s a moment where the apostles and other close disciples of Jesus are gathered around a fire, discussing their backgrounds and how they lived before they dropped everything to follow Jesus. Then, they begin to discuss what they expected the time of the Messiah’s arrival to be like. A time where most believe the Messiah would come with an army and deliver them out of the grip of the Roman Empire. Yet, there they are, sitting by the fireside, while Jesus spends the day sitting with people and ministering to them and healing them. It’s not what they expected, but each of them knows without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus really is the Messiah they were waiting for.
Then they begin to question why God would allow Israel to be occupied and persecuted for so long? Why wouldn’t He deliver them now from the persecution and authority of the Roman government? They begin to argue among themselves, then they see Jesus walking back from ministering to the multitude of people that were lined up for healing. He is tired and in pain from a long day of ministry and walks by them, not even acknowledging their argument, says goodnight, goes into His tent to pray and then go to bed. The disciples watch what takes place with Jesus in that moment, and nobody has anything more to say.
Here is Jesus, God in the flesh, come down from heaven to minister to the broken, hurting, outcast, with compassion, not judgment. Here He is, living under Roman occupation and one of the vilest empires in the history of the world; yet, you never hear Him challenge the authority of the Roman Empire. He is just found, repeatedly, ministering to the needs of people, healing people, performing miraculous signs and wonders, meeting people sometimes in large groups, but also just singular moments, like with Zacchaeus or Nicodemus.
At the beginning of this devotional, when I said, “I love the way the Lord works things out,” it’s because I had just watched that episode of The Chosen, right before I opened my Bible to Romans 13, where the Apostle Paul is talking about Submission to Governing Authorities. As soon as I started reading, I knew this was what the Lord would have me speak about. We live in a very messy world, where we rarely agree with our authorities. To submit to them and even honor them is very difficult, no matter what you believe or where you lie on the political spectrum. Yet, if Jesus were here right now, if this were the time He chose to be born into the world and start His public ministry, He would still be doing the same thing. He would be meeting people where they’re at and ministering to their needs, and simply saying, “Follow Me.”
My prayer for all of us, is that in the moments we begin to complain or argue about the state of our world, or who is in charge and who should be in charge, and how our world is not the way we think it should be… would we just close our eyes and picture Jesus walking back from a long day of meeting people’s needs where they were at? Would we realize that our job, as followers of Jesus, is to do the same? Minister to people where they’re at and pray for our leaders. God will be glorified in that, and He will take care of the rest.
Pastor Mike Gentry
