When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you come to know me?” and Jesus simply replies, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” And Nathanael replies, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Nathanael is amazed that Christ has seen him in what he thought was his totally secret place of private prayer and reflection. Christ goes on to tell him, “My dear Nathanael, you will see far greater things than this. The miracle of how God already knows us in this world is just the beginning – the rabbit hole runs much, much deeper than that . . . beyond your wildest imaginings really.”
We are so amazed and impressed by man-made things – and I suppose the technologies we have cobbled together for ourselves from the materials we have been given are fascinating enough in their own right. But the reality, of course, is that we haven’t even scratched the surface with our knowledge of the universe.
Just this past week scientists using new measuring techniques have confirmed what many long suspected but couldn’t be sure of: In our own galaxy there is an average of two planets per every star. There are somewhere around 300 billion stars in the Milky Way. If you do the math on that you get around 600 billion planets out there – an estimated 10 billion of which fall in what we call the “habitable zone.” Think about that – 10 Billion!
This is our galaxy alone folks – and we have visual evidence that there are billions of them stretching out in every direction towards the edge of the universe . . . that is, if there is an edge of the universe. And we’re ready to stand in our arrogance and question the existence of God? Or His Perfect Will?
“You will see greater things than these,” says Jesus referring to God’s Spirit being poured out upon him from the very heavens of which we still know almost nothing.
Greater things indeed.
Accordingly our mission in life might be boiled down to the following: Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly and seek God’s will and nothing else . . . No-thing, no idea – no thought – no action – no deed- no belief – no right – no purpose – no direction – nothing – outside of His most perfect will. It is arrogance, ignorance or both that searches or settles for anything else.
Yet that’s what we all do isn’t it? Even when we set out with the best of intentions on a new road seeking to trust Him with the details and expectations of our lives, we get out in all that worldly traffic and VROOM! Off we go taking some new shiny exit ramp of our own choosing, that leads in a direction that God has never intended.
But here’s the good news – just like your trusty GPS, God “recalculates” our journeys and sets us back on a new route meant to lead us to our one and only true destination – a right relationship with Him. But we’ve got to trust the road he brings us down – with all the bumps and curves and potholes that come along the way.
Safe travels out there.
Stuart Revercomb is the Minister at Peace Presbyterian Church in Roanoke. Visit them on the web at peace-church.net
