Look it up!

"Are you the one or should we look for another?" That's the question John the Baptists followers ask Jesus in the gospel today. Too many times to count, Jesus answers questions with scripture. One of the best bosses I ever had was really great at teaching me how to "fish" instead of just giving me a fish. If I asked him a question he would say "where do you think we could look to find the answer to that?" and then we would look together until we found it. I have no doubt that he knew the answer without having to look it up in a manual, but he was giving me the knowledge and power to find answers myself which made me a better employee better able to do my job.
Jesus does the same with the people that asked him questions. Could he have answered the question simply? Of course. He is God, He could have told them everything they ever wanted to know. But he says "look it up" by saying in Mt 11:

"Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

If you were familiar with the book of Isaiah you would know that by saying that he was saying "look it up." Here is the text from the prophesy told in Isaiah 35:

"Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing."

He could have just said "yes" but He is a much better teacher than that. So I find myself questioning tonight what are some of the questions that I am constantly asking Him that he has already given me the answers to? I was talking with someone once who was switching jobs, trying to decide if she should go back to school, what relationships to pursue and really praying so much about what God wants for her and she was just unsure of the answer. Wow, we have all been there haven't we! That sentence was exactly me only a few years ago.  But is it possible sometimes when we don't feel we are getting a clear answer from God about something it's because He is saying to us: I already told you the answer a long time ago, look it up!

When I was in a situation where I had litterally prayed for over a year about a career change and I just could not get off the fence, every time I felt I knew what to do I talked myself out of it or felt differently. One day, I was driving home from work praying about it, asking for the 5 millionth time what I should do and I just felt God say very clearly "I don't really care Ann..." Not in the insensitive way it sounds, but that He was saying that either way would really be fine, it wouldn't be the end of the world, I would be happy no matter what I chose to do with that career decision. It's not that I don't believe that God has a plan for us, because I do very much. But sometimes I think we spend a lot of time weighing over things that don't matter so much, and we miss things that do. Maybe, if I had spent that much time praying over how to love a difficult family member it would have changed my life and theirs a lot more than a career change. Maybe, if I spent more time reading about and realizing that life isn't really about our careers at all, I would have known He gave me the answer thousands of years ago. We put so much of our worth in our success or failure at work/school/etc but Jesus spent his whole entire time on earth talking about love and relationships. So maybe if I haven't gotten the answer I've been waiting for, it's because the question has already been asked and answered. Possibly in Mt 22:37? ("Love your God with all your heart all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength....love your neighbor as yourself.")

Ok, well I realize the end of this post doesn't transition well but let's face it, this one got long and I've got a lot of stuff to look up so I have got to get going! :)