Let Jesus Pinch Hit!

Jesus replied, "You may go. Your son will live."  The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour."

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he and all his household believed.

John 4:50-53

The difference between the best baseball batter who has ever swung the lumber and the worst strong young man who couldn’t hit the ball if it was as big as a basketball is timing. Those who can swing the bat at the precise instant the ball enters the strike zone make baseball look like simple child’s play. Anyone can have “beginner’s luck” and swing the bat at a home run ball once. It is only if you can “put the bat on the ball” over and over again you will begin to hear the cheer of the crowds!

The man who came to Jesus in John 4 and asked Jesus to heal his son still speaks to us today. Jesus told the man that his son would live and the man “took Jesus at His word.” That means he accepted what Jesus told him and acted on it. This was the desert time! He had heard the Word and yet nothing around him had changed. There was nothing to tell him that when he returned home he would not be attending his son’s funeral, nothing except the Word of Jesus. Then came the moment of revelation that forever sealed his future and the future of his household. His servants were coming to meet him with the news that his son would live! When he asked them when the boy got better he realized that when Jesus spoke the words his son was healed!

The timing of God is perfect. He created the world at just the right moment. Jesus was born, and finished His work at precisely the right time. And you and I were born according to the perfect timing of God. The plans for your life and mine were complete before we ever took our first breath. Occasionally we, like the father of the boy who was healed, see how perfect God’s timing is and our faith is strengthened. But know this: The timing of God is perfect in every second of your life. There is never a time when Jesus leaves us to fend for ourselves to return later and clean up the mess. Jesus did say, “I will be with you always.”

I might as well end with the baseball analogy. Many believers study the Bible and pray that Jesus will be their batting coach in the game of life. And certainly it is a good idea to learn from Jesus as we stand at the plate and face  fastballs from Satan! But, the best idea is to step aside and let Jesus be the pinch hitter!