“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” (Eph. 3:20)
Has God ever stopped you in your tracks? Have you ever been so blown away by what God did that you just had to pause and let it sink in for a bit? Even though you know how big God is, has His work in your life ever still stunned you?
I’m guessing you probably would answer “yes” to each of these questions. And so could I. I’ve known the Lord since I was little, and yet He still blows me away on the daily with His incredible faithfulness, mercy, love, and goodness in my life. There are certainly seasons where He seems far away, but He never is, and in the end, I ultimately can look back and know that He showed up for me even when I couldn’t see Him or feel Him.
I haven’t been around for decades upon decades yet, but I can imagine that by the time I am, I’ll have millions of stories about both the little and the big ways God showed up in my life. Part of me can’t wait to be there and look back on everything, but my story is still in the midst of unfolding now.
Here’s the thing, though: Sometimes, I have to think God must be a bit surprised (if God ever gets surprised, that is!) that Christians haven’t yet caught on to the fact that He’s pretty powerful… or that we’re blown away by something small in comparison to what He’s actually capable of doing.
A situation just like this unfolds at the end of John 1, the passage we’re focusing on today. In John 1:35-51, Phillip, one of Jesus’ disciples, was so overcome by the fact that he’d found the Son of God that he immediately had to bring his friend Nathanael along, too. However, Nathanael was hesitant at first, and he didn’t believe Phillip had really found the Messiah. Verse 45 of John 1 (The Message) says,
Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
47 When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48 Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51 Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
All it took for Nathanael to believe was Jesus telling Nathanael He’d known him even before Phillip had thought to call Nathanael along on this journey. Now, Nathanael is displaying some admirable faith, for sure… but I love Jesus’ line at the end of verse 50:
“You haven’t seen anything yet!”
While Jesus was referencing the fact that Nathanael was about to have a front row seat to the single most important event in human history, I have to believe this statement is true for our lives also. We think God has been faithful to us in our past? He has even more faithfulness to give throughout the rest of our lives. We wonder if God’s finished using us for His glory after a season has come to an end? There is always more that He is waiting to call us to in the days to come. We saw God work a miracle or show up in a situation a few years ago? He is capable of showing up in even bigger and MORE miraculous ways in years to come. And on top of all of these things, we have the ultimate hope of heaven to look forward to after this life is all over.
Whether we’re talking about life here on earth or life after earth in heaven, God is not done with us, friends. And we haven’t seen anything yet. I’m thankful to know and believe that truth today.