Isaiah 55:8-9 (English Standard Version)

 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

As I pondered my thoughts and tried to make sense of it all, this was the Word of the day on my bible app. Oh how true that is right now.

My issue this morning is trying to understand how anyone could stop following Jesus.

John 6:66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

The first thing that struck me was the irony of 666. So many people fear the number unjustly, but who am I to judge them? But I do and therein lies the problem. I allowed judgment to lead my thinking and that is where my conclusions will be drawn, not from God’s truth.

I tend to forget a lesson I learned a long time ago.

• John 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
• John 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:

The “He” who comes in John 16:8 is the Holy Spirit. Since I have no righteousness of my own, righteous judgment can only come from the Spirit of Truth and not from my own ponderings.

I can read the scriptures and try to understand what “after this” means in John 6:66.

John 6:65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

My first impression was that they realized they were not chosen. In this chapter Jesus had not spoken to them about the issue of being chosen. They would not know what that meant. But I do and I allowed my knowledge of being chosen to make decisions about others who had no understanding of what being chosen means.

We think we are so smart because we have all of God’s Word to understand in depth things that were not available to those who stopped following Jesus for their own reasons.

Why does that matter?

2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,

2 Corinthians 9:13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,

When was the last time we heard a sermon on submission? It is so long ago for me that it has faded into my memory like a figment of the imagination. I am not even sure what was said.

Allow me at this moment to confess that I have trust issues. That comes from a lengthy history of those that failed me. From parents who did not communicate, to a brother who hated my very existence to someone I knew shooting me. It has been one event after another in a long line of lessons about who not to trust.

Submission doesn’t come easy for me. Who can I trust? The obvious answer here is God and God alone. How could I learn to trust a God I did not know? The simple answer is that He proved Himself worthy. Doing that for someone with major trust issues wasn’t easy, but He did just that.

Extraordinary feats take supernatural effort. God did not prove Himself worthy of my trust in the natural sense. He did not get my attention through the agency of man. He did it Himself.

I could list a series of events that God Himself showed up in the moment to prove Himself to me. The danger in doing that is in the risk that it would sound fake, a lie to elevate my own image. Glorifying God does not work that way. He shows Himself to each of us in a way we can accept Him, believe Him and trust Him.

One person I do trust had a miracle story so impressive that it made the national news and became a movie. Hundreds of witnesses knew his story at the time and saw a pure miracle in its rawest form. His story did not lead me to trust him. It was his humility.

He never let his fame overshadow his faith in God. Media attention can do that. He stayed focused on the God that saved him.

I still have trust issues. I admit it and I am fully aware of what kind of problems lack of trust can create. I am quick to judge and I struggle with keeping that to myself and not allowing it to hinder the preaching of the gospel. Judgment has no place in the gospel. The grace of God draws the needy to God, not judgment.

John 12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

We can only follow someone we trust. Submission is the key to following.