ESOCS Devotional 5 June 2025 – Seeing Jesus in Everything
MEMORY VERSE: “Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.” John 4:46
TEXT: JOHN 4:22-54
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed [a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain [b]nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
Faith almost always starts in a crisis. When things are going good, it’s easy to forget God; but when life tumbles in around us, we suddenly start looking up to heaven for help. This story centres around a man who is called a “royal official.” (Nobleman). The Greek uses a general term that means “one who serves the king.” It almost certainly means that he was an official in the government of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. No doubt he was rich, powerful, and influential. If he wanted something, it was done for him. People came to him to have their problems solved. But now he has a problem he can’t solve.
Let us learn from this that even the rich and powerful have their troubles. Behind every smiling face is a story of sadness and heartache. No matter how much money you have, you never reach the place where you are protected from trouble. Trouble comes alike to the rich and to the poor. As I have already said, we do not know the precise details of his son’s sickness. We only know this: It broke the father’s heart and consumed all his energy. This man who could do so much had no power to help his son. He watched day by day as his beloved child grew weaker and the fever raged without breaking. When his son cried, “Daddy, help me,” there was nothing he could do. At night when his son could not see him, he wet his pillow with tears of anguish.
Little did he know that this heavy burden was an angel in disguise. If his son had not been sick, he might never have met Jesus. God often uses trouble to focus our attention on Him. Through this sickness, God now has his undivided attention. I love the words of A.W. Pink: “It is well when trouble leads a man to God, instead of away from God. Affliction is one of God’s medicines.” The doctors must have done all they could do and they evidently said, “There is no hope.” In such a situation, desperate men take desperate steps. Desperate times call forth desperate measures.
Dearly beloved, that unfavorable situation your life is calling for divine help. Jesus allowed it so you could see Him like in Isaiah 6:1. I pray you judiciously make use of this opportunity.
CHALLENGES
- Don’t wait until affliction comes before you begin to seek the Lord. Seek for Him now while He may be found and cling to Him forever.
PRAYER POINT
- Father, cause me to always see you in every situation of my life.
FURTHER READING: 1 Samuel 29:1-End; 30:1-17; John 5:12-38; 5:39-End
ESOCS Devotional 5 June 2025
