When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people, he returned to Capernaum. At that time the highly valued slave of a Roman officer was sick and near death. When the officer heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.”
So Jesus went with them. But just before they arrived at the house, the officer sent some friends to say, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!” And when the officer’s friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed. (Luke 7:1-10)
Imagine the trust that this Roman officer was placing in multiple people for his highly valued slave. Trust is experienced on multiple levels with multiple people. It is seen in a variety of ways. For a healthy level of trust it is important that we have all of these in our life.
Trust in God
I claim that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and there are times that, if I am completely honest, I don’t bring my needs to Him. Even having a personal relationship with God, I don’t have an understanding of authority like the soldier had. I fail to ask God for the little things, let alone the big things. I have recently started to question, “Is this a trust thing? Do I believe God can do it? or “Is this an insecurity thing?” Do I believe that God will do it for me specifically? Having seen God work many miracles, I know God can. I think I fail to ask because of my own insecurity, if I am worthy of asking. Either way, it still boils down to trust. I either trust who God is and what He says about me, or I don’t trust Him.
The Roman soldier had just heard about Jesus. He trusted that Jesus held the power to heal the slave and that Jesus would grant the request. The Roman soldier asked advisors to go pled the case. Yet after giving it some thought the Roman Soldier sent friends to say “just say the word.” The soldier trusted the authority that he knew Jesus had. We also must begin to trust God completely. We must trust that God will do what He says He will do. We must trust God can do what He says He will do. We can trust that God wants to do for us, and He is just waiting for us to ask.
Trust in Advisors
The Roman officer trusted some respected Jewish elders to take his request to Jesus. Jesus had not even met the Roman officer, but he saw how the respected Jewish elders pled for the Roman soldier. So they earnestly begged Jesus to help the man. “If anyone deserves your help, he does,” they said, “for he loves the Jewish people and even built a synagogue for us.” So Jesus went with them. The Jewish elders were people of some authority and had responsibility for some group of people. They were older, wiser, trusted people.
In our lives we must have people that we can trust for advise and wisdom. It is likely the Roman soldier learned about Jesus from the Jewish elders. Although the soldier had authority over the Jewish people due to his position, he knew to listen to their wisdom. He had advocated for them to have a synagogue to worship. We need trusted advisors that will point us to Jesus. We need advisors that will tell us the things we may not want to hear, regardless of our response. The Bible tells us to have many advisors. Proverbs 15:22 Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success. Proverbs 19:20 Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. We need people in our life whose wisdom we can draw on to help us in our walk. They will challenge us to be a “better us” encouraging personal growth and development.
Then the Roman officer trusted friends to convey his respect for Jesus’ authority. The Roman soldier had sent the elders to ask Jesus to come. While the elders were on the journey back with Jesus, the soldier sent his trusted friend with a more personal message. “Lord, don’t trouble yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worthy of such an honor. I am not even worthy to come and meet you. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.” The soldier trusted his friends to convey this humble message.
We need friends in our life that we can trust. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:9 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Friends offer a different perspective than advisors. They share from a place of affection. A friend may offer the same advice but they do it from a place a love. Because there is a mutual affection, feelings can hurt on the tougher topics. If personalities clash, there can be a weakening of the relationship. If a friendship is not strong enough, the person with a more assertive personality may not provide a safe place to give or receive advice on difficult topics. Proverbs 12:26 The godly give good advice to their friends…”
Ultimately when we place our trust in God, others will see. The testimony of our faith will travel farther than our personal circle. Jesus didn’t even meet the soldier, and yet He told the crowd “I haven’t seen faith like this in all of Israel.”
If our faith in God is not solid, it will be hard to form a solid foundation of trust with others. When we find an area of weakness in our faith in God, we must take our weakness to Him and let Him heal those broken places that keep us from fully trusting Him. When we fully trust in Him, others will also speak of our faith. Our testimony will speak to others and will soon become a faith like this.
This blog is part of a #Write31Days series on trust. 31 Days is an online writing challenge, where bloggers pick one topic and write a post on that topic every day
Restoring Voice 