Beyond

Do you ever start your morning thinking, “God, I can’t wait to see what you will do with today!”

I usually spend the first hour of my day sipping coffee and gathering my thoughts.  Sometimes I am really excited about the day that is ahead of me.  There are also those days that I honestly dread the way they may unfold.  In either case I will spend more time than necessary trying to frame the day before me.  I like to have a plan—most of us do—and it is a challenge when the events of the day go beyond “my” plan of action.

““Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭2:7‬ ‭CEB‬‬

God forgives sin.  The Pharisees (religious legal experts) knew that to be true, but their understanding of how God could do this had limits.  They were unprepared to see God work beyond their expectations.  They believed God would work only through a process, and that process did not allow for God to show up right there, forgive sin, and heal the paralyzed.

““Get up, take your mat, and go home.” Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!””  ‭‭Mark‬ ‭2:11-12‬ ‭CEB‬‬

We all love order and, if you’re like me, it’s easy to get thrown off track when things don’t go the way we expect.  Were the Pharisees angry after this encounter with Jesus? Did they prepare to fight for what they knew was possible?  Perhaps they followed Jesus, filled with hope in all that He could do next!

Fortunately God works beyond us, beyond our understanding, beyond the order we try to create. This is where the miraculous can be found. It is best to keep our focus on God’s limitless potential and eagerly await what is next. Today my prayer will be, “God, I can’t wait to see what you can do!” Let us go follow God and look beyond, toward the miraculous