Have you ever been in a situation where you were discussing something with someone and at some point, realised that you were talking at cross purposes, i.e. talking about two entirely different things? Maybe you were talking about someone called Mia, and halfway through the conversation, you realised that the Mia you were talking about was not the Mia they had in mind?

Or you might have heard the joke about the tourist who sees some cows while driving past a field, and says, “look, a flock of cows!” The person next to them says, “herd of cows”. Then the tourist says, “Of course I’ve heard of cows, I just pointed out a flock of them!”

Reading through the gospels, one of the things that you may have observed is how often Jesus was talking about one thing, and the people He was talking to were thinking of something entirely different.

More generally, people were expecting a warrior Messiah, a secular king that would overthrow the Romans and rescue the Jews from oppression. However Jesus’ modus operandi was completely different from what they expected. Their misunderstand and confusion was probably because they were mixing up prophecies regarding His first and second coming. For instance, in John 6:14-15 (NLT), following the feeding of the five thousand, “when the people saw Him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!” When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.”

Then the misunderstanding that took place right after Simon Peter had spiritually discerned and accurately stated that Jesus was the Messiah (Mark 8:27-33). Immediately after that, when Jesus started to explain just how He would save the people, i.e. through His death and resurrection, Peter took Jesus aside and began to reprimand Him, prompting Jesus to say, “Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” (Mark 8:33, NLT)

In addition to that, there were particular times when the disciples or other people Jesus met with were on a different wavelength from Him. For instance in Matthew 16:5-12, Jesus warned the disciples to “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees,” and they thought He was talking about physical bread, rather than doctrine. Again in John 6:47-69, a similar misunderstanding arose when Jesus talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. This one actually caused many of Jesus’ disciples to turn away and no longer follow Him (John 6:66). However Jesus was talking of Himself as the source of life, spiritual and eternal, an essential staple for life, much as bread in those days was a staple in their physical diet.

 In Matthew 22:23-33, the Sadducees started an argument about marriage in Heaven, and Jesus response to them was “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.” (vs 29-30).

In John 13:21-29, when He was referring to Judas’ betrayal, and the disciples thought Jesus was telling Judas to buy something for the festival.

A similiar situation also took place when Jesus encountered the woman at the well, as recorded in John 4. Jesus asked the woman for a drink, which puzzled her because she was a Samaritan woman, and Jews and Samaritans weren’t exactly the best of friends.

In verses 10-12, (NLT), we read an excerpt of their conversation. “Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”

“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”

Again we see that they were on completely different wavelengths. In almost all these incidents, one common theme is that they were all focused on the natural, while Jesus was focused on the spiritual. Or as Jesus Himself said to Peter, “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

I’m not entirely sure that we would have responded any differently to all this, if we were the ones engaging with Jesus at the time. With the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge of all that happened afterwards, we can now understand things in a way that these people did not at the time. However, even with this hindsight and knowledge, the challenge is still this, how many of us are actually on the same wavelength as God when it comes to our perspectives on things? Can we honestly say that we are in sync with God’s vision, purpose, plans, timing and perspective? Do we see things from a human, worldly view point? Or, do we see things from God’s viewpoint?

For instance, when we read Romans 8:28 (KJV), “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose”, what comes to our minds when we think of things working together for good? Do we think of worldly blessings, or do we think, perhaps, that the good God might have in mind is our transformation to become more and more like His Son, Jesus?

The good thing about the people in some of these illustrations, such as the disciples and the woman at the well, is that eventually it clicked for them that what Jesus was referring to was not physical but spiritual. I love the response of the woman at the well when she realised. Verse 28 says “The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone…” I like the fact that she did not even bother taking her water jar with her, probably because she wanted to be able to run fast to tell people about Jesus!

Incidentally, Jesus did not even ask her to evangelise. She had not even heard of the great commission, because it had not been given, and yet she could not help herself. She wanted every one to know about this Messiah! She might have been an outcast in that town, given that she had had five husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. This may also have been why she was coming to draw water around noon (verse 6-7), which was unusual given the heat. Women usually went to the well to draw water towards evening (Genesis 24:11). Yet, that did not stop her from wanting to share the good news of the Messiah with her townsfolk.

This is the response of someone who is finally in sync with God’s plan. The question we need to ask ourselves is “are we in sync or out of sync?” If the former, great! I pray that God helps us to keep standing. 1 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV) states, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

If on the other hand, we realise that we are out of sync, then the first thing I will say is well done for realising it and acknowledging it. The second thing goes without saying, we need to move and be on the same wavelength with God. In John 15:5 (NLT), Jesus says, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

How do we ensure that we are in sync with God’s plans? I’ve touched on this in a previous post, The Fulfilment Of The Sabbath, which you can read. In summary though, it is through intimacy with God. Intimacy with His Word and His Spirit, which comes from spending quality time with God through prayerfully studying and meditating on His Word, seeking His face in the place of prayer, and listening to His precious Holy Spirit. “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11, ESV).

A mind and life in sync with God is truly invaluable. It is what gives us peace and enables us to stay joyful even in the most difficult circumstances. It is what made the Psalmist say in Psalm 118:17-19 (BSB), “I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done. The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and give thanks to the LORD.”

Imagine, in the midst of God’s discipline, having the confidence to know that it is God who is doing the disciplining, that He will be merciful, and then even having the grace to say I want to enter the gates of righteousness and give thanks to God, while still being disciplined!

It is what made Jesus to be able to sleep peacefully in the midst of a storm (Mark 4:38-40). You can tell that the disciples were out of sync because they thought Jesus’ rest was a sign that He did not care about them, just as we sometimes think that God’s ‘silence’ in our storm means that He doesn’t care about us.

A life in sync with God is what gives us the boldness to proclaim the gospel, just like the woman at the well, Simon Peter, and the other disciples did. From being so afraid of being associated with Jesus that Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:54-62), to boldly preaching and confidently identifying with Jesus, and even rejoicing while suffering for Him (Acts 2:14-42; 5:40-42). Hallelujah!

Again we see part of their ‘secret’ in Acts 2:42 (NLT), “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.” The word of God, fellowship and communion with other believers, and prayer… Invaluable in the life of someone who wants to walk in step with God, to be able to discern times and seasons (1 Chronicles 12:32), to know and recognise when God is present and at work, not just someone who says afterwards “did not our hearts burn within us?”(Luke 24:13-34).

And of course a life in sync with God is one that is lived in total submission to Him. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” This requires humbly acknowledging that God’s plans are infinitely better than ours, and consequently submitting to His plans. When we do this, our mindset and even our prayers will change. We will go from trying to get God to step down to be in sync with what we want, and instead step up to be in sync with Him. And what a glorious place to be that is.

I pray that as we reflect on this, we will do all that we can, with God’s spirit leading us, to ensure we are on the same wavelength as God. I pray that we will learn to trust God with all our hearts, submitting to Him in all we do, and remaining intimate with Him. In doing so, may we enjoy the blessings that come from being on the same wavelength with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the Uncreated Creator, our omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, loving, compassionate, gracious Abba. Amen and Amen!

Image source here.