"'The Great Facilitator'" August 29, 2017

"My friend Sarah Mourer posted this and I thought it was really good. 'Devotional Nugget #828: "The disciples didn’t notice the fulfillment of many Scriptures at the time, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that what was written about him matched what was done to him." John 12:16 MSG God knows what is best and there are moments when He hides Himself. However, when the time is right, He is revealed and the impact is life changing. The disciples knew the Scriptures, but they may have behaved differently if they had put it all together. They had to think and wrestle with what they saw and heard, but they might have lost some of that had they realized that many prophecies were coming to fruition before their eyes. They might have lost empathy. 'Jesus is going to die a miserable death, but that's His lot in life.' The disciples anguished over Jesus' death. And what about Mary and Joseph?!? What would they have done differently had they understood, really understood? There's another example when Jesus appeared to two disciples after His death and resurrection. The disciples were on the road to Emmaus discussing Jesus' death. The conversation would have completed changed had they known that resurrected Jesus was walking with them. However Jesus' identity remained hidden from them until the right moment for maximum impact. The key is that God doesn't hide Himself to frustrate us, but to allow us to dig deeper or to facilitate greater revelation about something. I think that one of God's names should be The Great Facilitator.'" Originally published to Facebook 8/29/17