One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and His disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.  Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”  Jesus answered them….                                                                           Luke 6:1-3

Yes, I did stop that a bit short.  It’s because the story isn’t so much in the answer to the question today.  It’s in the One who answers.

It struck me as I read these verses that it wasn’t Jesus who had done something “unlawful on the Sabbath,”  it was His disciples.  However, it wasn’t the disciples who answered the protest, it was Jesus.

Jesus was walking through the fields and the disciples were just following Him.  If we are following where He leads and protests arise, the fight isn’t ours it’s on Him.

Truth of the matter is, if we live lives that are sold out to following this Guy, we’re going to have some opposition. There are going to be many who say, (in various tones) “Why are you doing that!?”

The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.                 Exodus 14:14 (NASB)

Moses continually reminded himself and the Isrealites that their grumbling wasn’t really against him, it was against the Lord.  If we are just the follower, then there is a Leader, and followers don’t have much say in the direction in which they find themselves traveling.  The authority and the responsibility lie with Him who calls the shots.  This is so freeing!  It abdicates me from the responsibility of justification.  The only ‘excuse’ that I need for doing that which the Lord calls me to do is, “He said so.” People–including myself!–may not understand what the Lord is up to, but it’s enough that He’s up to it.  Much like His written Word, it is enough without our explanations and addendums.

Despite this truth, opposition does come and God’s Sovereignty may not be the answer that others were looking for.

You ever notice how siblings can talk horribly of one another, but don’t let someone on the outside speak ill of them!  Out come the claws!  And then there’s the children.  Not a God-fearing mama on planet earth is going to let someone speak ill of her baby!

When opposition stands before you, you have an advocate that doesn’t like for people to mess with His baby.

When you choose to raise your children differently, when you choose to spend your money differently, when you choose to go where others never would, when you choose to love whom others wouldn’t, when you choose to give what others can’t, and when you choose to live like others don’t, there will be questions.  And they are for the Lord to answer.

Sadly, I’m the one posing those questions sometimes.  The Lord calls me to go down a road I don’t want to travel and the questions and oppositions don’t come from others, they come from me.  I am often my very own worst enemy and the central figure of my own derailment.

Perhaps I should keep silent and step into the grain field.  I hear the harvest is plentiful there, the food is fresh, the company is fantastic, and the leader is jealous for His own.