In the Gospel of John, chapter 2, we read the story of Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast. Weddings in Jesus’ day were celebrations that lasted for days. The bridegroom provided food, drink and music for not just the whole town, but for any and all even distantly associated with the bride’s and groom’s families. There was a lot to be provided.

To have either food or drink to run out was a massive faux-pas. It was tantamount to saying, “I can’t provide for you and thus it’s a sign I may not be able to provide for my bride…and you really don’t matter to me.” Running out of wine was not something the bridegroom anticipated. The wedding revelers must have been a very thirsty bunch, because they ran out of wine. There was a failure in planning.

Jesus’ mother, Mary, comes to Him and tells them the wine has run out. She knew Who He was and what He could do. Jesus responds, “Woman, what is that to me? My time has not yet come.” Jesus was telling her that human expectations and intentions were not the things that would determine what He would do. He had one will and THAT was to do His Father’s will, in His Father’s time and in His Father’s way. Jesus doesn’t say, “No.”, but He clearly states that the timing of people, what they thought was most important, would not be what moved Him to act. His “time” to move in the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit would not be determined by human need, but the will of God.

Jesus instructs the servant to fill six stone jars with water. Each one held between 20 to 30 gallons. That took time and people were thirsty. The jars were filled to the brim. Jesus then told a servant to take some of the water (that had now become wine) and take it to the steward of the feast. After tasting it, the steward called the bridegroom over and was shocked that the best wine had been left to the end of the celebration as was NOT the custom.

It can cause us a sense of disillusionment when God doesn’t do for us or in us what we think He should be doing, when we think He should be doing whatever it is we think needs doing. We think we know what we need, but we actually don’t. God primary concern is not protecting us from pain but is reproducing in us the life and character of Jesus in the Holy Spirit’s power. A “shut door” is not an impediment to God. The Lord asks us to trust Him and to only do what He asks us to do.

The church us called the Bride of Christ and Jesus is THE Bridegroom. He has not forgotten what we need. We are actually far worse off than we can imagine and far more loved that we could ever fathom. The provision Jesus Christ has made for both now and for eternity is infinitely greater than the sum-total of human need. He is the provider of ALL our needs, not just some of them. The illusion of life without Him is like water. The REAL world, the Kingdom of God is discovered by life IN Him. He intends to turn our “water” into “wine”.

The first step of faith is to bring who we are, what we think we need, all our concerns to Him. He is THE ANSWER to whatever question or need we have. He reorients our lives; not merely adjusts them. Life must change to be REAL LIFE and water can’t turn itself into wine on its own. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus always saves the best for last. The best is yet to come, but it is coming in the here and now on His schedule and ultimately when Jesus Christ comes again, He’ll bring His Kingdom in its fullness and us fully into it.

I’m so grateful that Jesus doesn’t yield to our will, but changes our will, our mind, our emotions and our hearts by the Power of His Will, by the Holy Spirit, so that we will not settle for less than what He has in store. Salvation and healing happen in the real, not in the imagined. It is far more than we could ever conceive of or ever have the wherewithal to even ask for. Give Him your “water”. He intends you to become His “wine”.