God’s Strange Assignments

GOD’S STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS

Text: John 2:1-11

"And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: (2) And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. (3) And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. (4) Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. (5) His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. (6) And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. (7) Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. (8) And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. (9) When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, (10) And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. (11) This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him."

INTRODUCTION

When I was in school growing up, there were times that my teachers gave me some assignments that caused me to scratch my head

I’ll never forget in 10th grade my Biology teacher giving us an assignment where we had to go out and collect 25 different leaves, pick them, and name them

And I remember going through the woods trying to find 25 different leaves, and I’ve never understood to this day what the purpose of that assuagement was because I can’t tell one leaf from another today

Well, in the spiritual realm, in God’s dealing with our lives, and in the Word of God, God gave assignments that, to the natural, the carnal, the flesh, did not make sense

You’ll find over and over, God giving some STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS

For instance, in our text this morning, when confronted with the lack of wine, Jesus, asked the people to fill the pots with water

That was a strange assignment

After all, he could have turned the water into wine right in front of their faces

Or, at least, he could have said, “Go gather some grapes.”

But He didn’t – He said, “Fill the pots with water”

And the people I’m sure scratched their heads with wonder

But notice what Mary said

She said in John 2:5 "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."

And sure enough, when they fulfilled that strange assignment, the water was turned into wine

And the point is clear:

If we want to go from

--the ordinary, to the extraordinary

--the mundane, to the miraculous

--lack, to provision

--sickness, to health

--weakness, to power

Then we need to do whatever He tells us to do, and watch Him do what we cannot do, and follow Him though, at times, he gives us STRANGE ASSIGNMENTS

Let me tell you this morning that according to the prophet Isaiah, God let’s us know

Isaiah 55:9

"[That] as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [His] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts than [our] thoughts."

Notice that this says that GOD’S THOUGHTS are higher than our thoughts

This tells me two things

First of all, He’s thinking of me

His eye is on the sparrow, and He watches over me

I’m not alone

I’m not an orphan, a forsaken child

I’m the very apple of His eye!

And then, secondly, It tells me that God’s ways are higher than our ways

This refers to PERSPECTIVE

Have you ever been caught in a traffic jam on an interstate?

In front, and in behind, and all around are cars, creeping along

You sink into despair because you don’t know what’s the hold up and how long is the hold up

But then you see a helicopter fly over – now they’ve got a different perspective

I remember one time getting caught up in a major traffic jam on the North Carolina, Virginia border

I took an alternate route, and it was jammed

You see, if I could have got a higher perspective, I could have seen exactly which way to get out of the mess I was in, but in the middle of it, I was hopeless

And that’s they way it is in life

There’s trouble in front, trouble behind

The Psalmist said in Psalms 91:7 "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."