May 18, 2024 Devo

Most people have an innate belief in God, even if they don’t know anything about Him. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God “has planted eternity in the human heart,” so perhaps it comes from that. Or maybe most people look around and understand that there’s got to be something or Someone out there. You can’t have a universe this complex without Divine Intelligence designing it. But despite what their hearts and minds are telling them, most people still don’t seek God. That is until there’s a crisis.
Our passage today tells us about a Roman soldier who came to Jesus. He sought Jesus out, not because he was pondering eternal truth or because he believed Jesus to be the Messiah, but because he had a servant who was sick and needed to be healed. Perhaps he was a soldier who had been assigned to keep an eye on this Jew who was drawing gigantic crowds. Or perhaps he had just seen Jesus ministering to people on the street as he passed by. Or maybe the servant was a believer and had asked him to go and seek out Jesus. Whatever the previous connection, it was this crisis that caused this Roman’s encounter with the Christ. Which is great. God works wonders in crisis situations.
Crises flood our lives with the knowledge of how much we need God. They remind us that life can get bigger than us in a hurry, and we need the Hand of God to lead us through it. Crises bring us to the end of ourselves…and to the beginning of God. It’s been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. And my experience is that sooner or later we’re ALL in those bunkers fighting for our lives.
So what’s YOUR crisis today? Finances? Health? Marriage? Kids? All of these and more are the crises that should drive us to our knees and into the Hands of God. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since the last time you prayed. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since you’ve been to church. Don’t let your crisis push you into isolation or despair. You know there’s a God. My guess is you’ve even heard his name. And that Jesus is waiting for YOU to bring your crisis to Him. That’s God’s Word for you today.