John 2:3, 7 “They have no more wine…Jesus told the servants, Fill the jars with water.” (NLT)

It was a tough move, but he had no choice. The call came at work; unless you can come up with several hundred dollars, your son will go to jail. John had wandered from the right path, and his dad was out of options. He didn’t want his son in jail but had no money to rescue him and he felt like a short stint might just be the fix he needed to reconsider his life’s direction. After all, God doesn’t always rescue us, he reasoned. So he let his son go to jail. It didn’t immediately get his attention, but this and a few more consequences finally moved him back in the right direction. The hard stuff is seldom easy.

Jesus’ first miracle was at a wedding. The week-long festivities were in full swing-until the wine ran out. Fast forward twenty centuries and it would be like forgetting the wedding cake. Jesus’ mother approached him with the dilemma. He told the servants to fill the water jars and take them to the master of ceremonies. When he tasted the water, it was wine-and not the cheap kind.

The servants didn’t know the water was going to transform itself. For all they knew, they were taking water and wondering how this was going to solve anything. They must have had faith something was going to happen. Hard stuff.

Why does God ask us to do the hard stuff? Our financial situation has taken a nose dive but he still wants us to give sacrificially. Our best friend has betrayed our confidence but God says forgive him-even though this is the eighth time he has done this. Life seems to be in turmoil but God tells me to patiently trust him. My prayers don’t appear to make a difference but he tells me to pray anyway-without stopping.

Hard stuff. So I do like the servants. I fill up my pots with patience, forgiveness, trust, prayer and take them to the Master believing he will transform the water into wine. Sure enough, when He gives me a taste, it’s the good stuff.

Prayer: Father, when Your directions make no sense, enable me to trust You to make the water wine.

Martin Wiles mandmwiles@homesc.com