This is a guest post from Victor Sholar. Victor is the Assistant Pastor at Los Angeles Community Bible Church. You can listen to his sermons on our church webpage. Victor is one of the finest young preachers you’ll hear anywhere. I’m sure you’ll enjoy his devotional reflection of serving others like Jesus did. This post originally appeared in the LACBC monthly newsletter. Here’s his post.
“But the multitudes were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing,” Luke 9:11.
In verse 10, Luke makes it clear that Jesus' intent was to take the disciples to a lonely place to rest after their evangelistic mission (Mk. 6:30-32). "But the multitudes were aware of this and followed Him." How easy it is to get angry when your plans for relaxation are interrupted by people who don't seem to care that you are trying to relax. But what was Jesus' response? "He welcomed them." Now why would Jesus welcome the very ones He was trying to get away from? Because Jesus viewed this interruption as the sovereign will of God. God providentially led the people to find out where Jesus was in order to give Him an opportunity to minister. Sometimes the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to perform have been purposed by Him to happen at the time when we feel it is most inconvenient (Eph. 2:10). But isn't it encouraging to know that even our Lord Jesus Christ can "sympathize with our weaknesses" even in situations like this? He was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15). The "all things" entails even when personal plans are interrupted. Therefore, we can draw near to Jesus to receive grace and mercy to help us to have the right attitude when we encounter these situations (Heb. 4:16).
Jesus welcomed those He did not intend to fellowship with because He understood that God was in control. Therefore to get upset or frustrated when your plans are interrupted is to be upset with God. "The mind of man plans his ways, But the Lord directs his steps," Proverbs 16:9.