Do Whatever He Tells You

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"... the mother of Jesus said to him. 'They have no wine.' … His mother said to the servers, 'Do whatever he tells you.'" John 2:3,5

Throughout the Bible, prophets and Apostles, as well as Mary admonished people to, “Do whatever he tells you.” This often preceded a miracle.

Some spiritual exercises encourage us to imagine we are in the biblical scene, seeing, touching, hearing. How would we react? What would we say? Would we be among those clamoring for attention, or one of the skeptics shouting for everyone to just be quiet?

There is a third possibility, being the one who waits patiently, praying silently, believing God knows our need and will come at the appropriate time.

I want to be this third kind of believer, but it’s hard. Patience is difficult if my circumstances seem critical. Another difficulty, is whatever I desire what God wills? That one is tough. If it is, it will happen, if not…

Going back to the spiritual exercises, meditation brings us into closer union with God. It is in those quiet moments he tells us what to do. Then, it is up to us to follow through.

There have been times I ignored God, refused to obey. He wouldn’t let me get away with it — ever. As I have described in some of my previous posts, something always happened to thwart my intention, or pull me up short, usually some impossible coincidence leaving no doubt it was God’s hand.

That brings me back to doing whatever he tells me. At the moment, it isn’t the most pleasant task. As I mentioned in last week’s post, (Are You Listening), I am in the midst of re-editing my already published books. I am tired of the tedium, and yet I still have three and a half books to go through (two already published and one not yet published.)

I have toyed with the idea of letting the first two books stand as they are, but I can’t get them off my mind, can’t concentrate on anything else.

So, I continue, doing as he tells me, doing it right this time (I think). It’s rather like my mother telling me how to do something, and then ignoring her advice. We all know how that usually works out.  

With God, this also carries through to other things, not just writing. When the prophet, Elisha, instructed the leper, Naaman, to bathe in the river Jordan, Naaman cursed the prophet. He expected to do some great feat in order to receive his miraculous healing. Simply bathing in the river seemed too trivial.

We aren’t too different, often missing the answer to our prayers because they are too simple — or in my case, too tedious. If we refuse to do as he tells us, we won’t receive our miracle. After all, a leap of faith proves nothing until we actually take the leap.