Nobleman's Faith

If you have ever been to a circus, you have seen elephants tied to a chain that is connected to a stake in the ground. You may not realize that that stake is only eighteen inches long and that an elephant can easily pull that stake up, because a grown up man has to pull the stake up to free the elephant. Now if a grown man can pull up the stake, why doesn’t the elephant pull that stake out of the ground and free himself?

Well, when that elephant was a baby, he did not have the strength to pull that stake out of the ground. After years of trying, the elephant concludes that he can never pull it out of the ground. So in circuses all over the world there are massive elephants, capable of lifting entire trees out of the ground by their roots, held captive by puny or small, weak stakes.

Likewise, there are many people in this world who are chained to the stakes of sin, sorrow, and suffering who could be free in an instant if they would just trust Jesus.

We need a faith that can conceive the invisible; we need a faith that can believe the incredible; we need a faith that can receive the impossible. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

This is a story about a man who learned how to “just trust.” With just three words, “Lord I believe”, his life was totally transformed. Just by faith he went from darkness to light, from blindness to sight, from weakness to might, from wrong to right. In the process he shares with us the single greatest lesson we can ever learn on how to walk through the valley of the shadow of disaster, darkness, and even death, and come out victorious on the other side.

I. When Grief Strikes, Just Trust:

“So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.” (John 4:46-47)

This man is called a “nobleman.” That word comes from a Greek word, which gives us the word kingdom, and it literally means “a king’s man.” This man was an officer in the king’s court. He was a man of preeminence and a man of position. He had money and influence in the highest places.

But he had a problem. His son was at the point of death. Now I am sure this man had spent more money. He had hired the finest doctors, he had bought the most expensive medicine, and all the while he watched helplessly as the life of his son was slowly flowing out of him. For the first time, this man realized how little money really means. Because money can keep poverty from your door, but it can’t keep problems out of your life.

This nobleman learned that there are some things that money can’t buy. Money can buy a degree, but it can’t buy wisdom; it can buy people, but it can’t buy friendship; it can buy influence, but it can’t buy respect; it can buy a house, but it can’t buy a home; it buys pleasure, but it can’t buy peace. Money can take you almost anywhere except to heaven, and buy you almost anything except eternal life.

Now we can see that it was trouble and tragedy that brought this man to Jesus. It was a dying son that brought him to a divine Savior. Do you realize that if this man had not known grief, he may never have known grace. If he had not experienced tragedy he might never have experienced triumph.

So often when trouble comes our way we will get bitter toward God, and ask the question: “Why did God allow this trouble to come into my life?” Well, many times, in fact I believe any time trouble is brought into your life, one purpose is that the trouble might bring you closer to God.

Anything that drives you closer to Jesus is a blessing, whether it be cancer, the premature death of a child, the loss of a job. Anything that drives you to Jesus is a blessing. This father comes to Jesus and literally begs him to come to his home and heal his son. That would seem to be a very normal natural request, but notice how Jesus responds: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’ The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies?’” (John 4:48-49)