Do whatever He tells you

“Do whatever He tells you” — John 2:5

Mary gave the servants some of the best advice anyone could ever give: “Do whatever He tells you.”

Notice that Mary did not explain what Jesus was going to do. She did not give them a reason. She simply told them to obey Him. Why could Mary say that with such confidence?

Because Mary knew Jesus.

She had experienced His birth. She had pondered the things God had spoken concerning Him. She had watched Him grow. She knew that He was not an ordinary person. Mary's confidence in Jesus was not based merely on what she had heard about Him. It was based on what she knew of Him.

And that is an important principle for us:

Know the Master, and obedience becomes easier.

The servants were told: “Fill the jars with water.”

Think about that instruction. They had run out of wine. The wedding was in trouble. And Jesus tells them to fill six stone jars with water. To them, it probably made no sense.

Water cannot solve a wine problem.

If someone had asked them, “Why are you filling these jars with water when we need wine?” they might have said, “We don't know. Jesus told us to do it.” Sometimes God's instructions don't make sense to us because we can only see the instruction, but God can see the outcome. The servants didn't know what Jesus was going to do.

But Jesus knew. And that is where faith begins.

Abraham knew the Master

Think about Abraham. God told Abraham to offer Isaac, the son he had waited for so many years. From a human perspective, it was an incredibly difficult command. But Abraham was willing to obey because he knew the One who was asking. Abraham didn't understand everything God was doing, but he knew God's character. He knew that God was faithful. He knew that God had made a promise. He knew that God could be trusted.

Hebrews 11:17-19 - By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

Faith does not mean I understand everything God is doing. Faith means I trust the One who does.

Abraham could obey because he knew his Master.

Peter knew the Master

The same principle appears in Luke 5. Peter had fished all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus said:

“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Peter could have said: "Lord, I am the fisherman. You are the carpenter. I know fishing. We have worked all night. There are no fish here."

But Peter said: “But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” - Luke 5:5. That is powerful.

“Because You say so.”

In other words: "I don't understand it, but I know You." It doesn't make sense to me, but I trust You.I have tried everything I know, but because You have spoken, I will obey."

At Your Word, Lord!

That is the response of someone who knows the Master.

Three lessons for all of us

1. Know the Master

Before you learn to obey Jesus, learn to know Jesus.

The more you know His character, His faithfulness, His wisdom and His love, the easier it becomes to trust Him.  It must be built on knowing and loving Christ.

When you know Him, you can trust Him.

2. Obey the Master—even when it is difficult

Sometimes Jesus will ask you to do something that doesn't make sense. Forgive when you feel you have every right to be angry. Apologise when you think the other person should apologise first. Give when you think you don't have enough. Wait when you want to move. Stay when you want to walk away. Love when it is difficult. And sometimes God may say, “Do this,” when you cannot see what He is doing.

Remember the servants at Cana.

Their responsibility was not to understand the miracle. Their responsibility was to obey the Master.

They filled the jars.

Jesus performed the miracle.

Our responsibility is obedience.

God's responsibility is the outcome.

3. The best is yet to come

The master of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine and said:

“You have saved the best till now.” — John 2:10

What a beautiful picture of the Christian life. When Jesus is in our lives, the family and the journey, the best is not necessarily behind you. There may be difficult seasons. There may be moments when the wine runs out. There may be times when you don't understand what God is doing. But if you continue to trust Him, obey Him and walk with Him, you can say:

“Lord, I don't understand, but at Your word, I will.”

And sometimes, when we look back, we discover that God was preparing something better than we could ever have imagined. So perhaps one of the greatest pieces of advice for us is the advice Mary gave at Cana:

“Whatever He tells you, do it.”

Because when Jesus is in our lives, the best is always yet to come.