Why the Lord Wants to Help You, Even When You Mess Up

I’m reading through the Psalms at night. And a couple nights ago I read Psalm 106, which gives many examples of how God’s people have messed up over the years, ignored Him, griped and complained against Him, worshiped idols, disobeyed His word, and generally behaved so rebelliously that they usually ended up in a mess of their own making.

A Small Miracle

 A few years ago I was witness to a small miracle, another reminder of God’s kindness.

It happened while the mission I worked for was conducting training for church planters. One of the sessions was about managing your finances, and the trainer was a Christian financial planner who had once been a church planter.

I was seated a couple rows back when he walked to the podium. I could tell something was not quite right because he seemed to be having trouble talking. Then he passed out.

But the “small miracle” part was—he didn’t really fall. Even though he lost consciousness, he didn’t just drop to the ground. He sort of glided. From where I was sitting, it was almost like invisible hands gently lowered him to the floor.

We called 9-1-1, and by the time the paramedics arrived, he was conscious, sitting up, and fully recovered. But the thing I’ll never forget is the way he drifted to the floor, almost in slow motion.

Of course I can’t prove it was a miracle. But it seems a lot like something I read about Jesus recently.

In Luke 4 Christ was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, and a demon-possessed man began to shout. Jesus rebuked the demon and commanded it to leave the man.

"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him (Luke 4:35, NIV).

The demon had to come out—Jesus had commanded it. But a demon is a tormentor, and it tried to inflict as much damage as it could as it made its exit. It threw the man down, no doubt hoping to cause injury. A dislocated shoulder, a concussion, a broken wrist—any of these would have been a diabolic bonus as it was forced to vacate. But Luke calmly reports that it “came out without injuring him.”

Once again, I can’t prove that the Savior lowered him to the ground and protected him from injury. But it’s certainly the kind of thing Jesus does.

We won’t know, this side of glory, all the times Christ protected, shielded, defended, or safeguarded us when we would otherwise have been badly hurt or worse. But I bet there are a lot of them.

Rescue Mission

We all know the story of Christ’s calming the sea. But did you ever wonder why Jesus and His disciples were out there in the first place? Jesus didn’t fully explain to His disciples. He simply said, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out (Luke 8:22, NIV).

And you know that they encountered a ferocious storm that would have sunk their boat and drowned them all had not Christ stepped in and calmed the storm (Luke 8:22-25). So why was Jesus so determined that they would cross the lake?

Well, His miracle on the water undoubtedly stretched the disciples’ faith. And it also created a record of His greatness for all of us to read and rejoice in.

But I think the primary reason for their voyage was to rescue the demonized man on the other shore. Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from city who had demons (Luke 8:26-27a, ESV).