Happy Run Free

Tucked between the water turned to wine and the famous John 3:16, are a few obscure verses that just tickled my funny bone this week.  Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did at the Passover celebration, the people trusted in Him, but then it says that "Jesus did not trust them".  (John 2:23-25)  Ha!  How ironic!  Here we act as though trusting God requires great fear and trepidation, as if He were some dilapidated bridge over a chasm, when in reality, God is altogether trustworthy!  It is us who are not.  The thought that God trusts us strikes me as funny. 

The passage goes on to say that the reason Jesus didn't trust mankind was that He knows human nature.  He knows we are fickle.  But can God trust us with His silence?  Can He trust us with hardship?  Can He trust us with unanswered prayer?  Or do we need signs and wonders to follow Him?  I'm afraid we too often crave the miraculous.  When we do not receive it, we grumble in disappointment.  

If we do not believe when God gives us the simple truths, how can we be entrusted with heavenly things?  Oh how Jesus longs to share His heart with us, to entrust us with intimate whispers from His heart, but so often He cannot because all we are focused on is the trivial . . . our own comforts, our own agendas.  God's eyes are always looking, always searching, for the heart that is completely His.  He longs for the heart that is about His business.  (2 Chron. 16:9; 1 Pet.3:12)

Even the animal kingdom turns to God for its provision. (Psa. 145:16) What will it take to get my eyes looking only to Jesus?  We look so many other directions.  I'm reminded of Sheri, my sister-in-law, who in the prime of life, was so suddenly taken away.  It immediately turned our eyes heavenward, grabbing our attention.  Yet, how much better to have that intense focus on Christ at all times.

Like the song says, "we all want love, we all want honor, but nobody wants to pay the asking price." (by FFH)  We desire signs and wonders, great experiences with God, but then murmur and complain through the dry desert seasons of our lives.  Surely, if my delight is in the Lord, my circumstances cannot really deter that joy.

I had a happy week.  I know, 'happy' is not a kosher word in Christian circles because it is defined by the ups and downs of life.  Yet, I find comical moments in Scripture and I know by looking at some of God's creatures that He certainly has a funny bone!   But so often our happy gets squashed.  I wonder, what is squelching our smile?  Worries of this life?  Heat of the day?  Burdens we carry?  God tenderly cares for us when we are sad, but I think He delights in our happy. 

Trusting in a great big God, releasing my tightly clenched fists from the stresses of life, and looking only unto Jesus, lets the happy run free.  Praying that will be true for us today.