Read: John 4:43-54
At Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. (v. 46)
Imagine for just a second that you are in a very difficult situation, a situation you have tried to solve with everything you have, without success. What do you do? When everything seems to be to your disadvantage, where do you go for help?
Difficult situations can prompt us to turn our gaze to God. When nothing else has worked, we lift our eyes up and say, “Now it’s in God’s hands. Unless God does something, there is no hope.”
In today’s reading, the son of a high official in Capernaum was ill. Capernaum was about 25 miles away from Cana—8 hours of travel by foot—but the news of Jesus’s miracle at the wedding traveled fast. The official made the long journey to find Jesus and asked him “to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death” (v. 47). Jesus responded by scolding the official for the kind of faith he had: “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe” (v. 48). But the official persisted in his plea: “The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies’ ” (v. 49).
Persisting in prayer and supplication before God, insisting and persevering until the matter is resolved seem to be the key when we need answers from God. For God will be everything that we ever need, if God alone is everything we have.
As you pray, ask God to be everything for you while you give everything to him.
About the Author
Genci Hoxha
Genci Hoxha is one of the leaders at a local church in Tirana where he is also involved in the ministry of teaching and preaching the Word. For 19 years, he served full-time with CRU in Albania. Three years ago, Genci Hoxha published his first poetry book entitled “Pasqyra e Qiellit” (English: The Sky’s Reflection).
These devotionals were first published in Fjalet e Shpreses, Words of Hope’s Albanian devotional. Learn more about Words of Hope Albania, and our work in training and equipping local Christian leaders to write and share the Word of God.
