He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. (John 4:3)
Jesus knew that the Jews wanted to take His life. He wasn't ready for that to happen, so He moved on. He still had more work to do. When the time was right, He would submit to the authority given them by the Father, to fulfill the prophecy.
When we look at the short span of His teaching life, the amount of time He spent on earth doing what He was born to do, we expect our answers to come within a short window of time as well. Somehow we gage all that should occur on a three-year calendar. If you look back to the Israelites, they wandered the desert for 40 years. They were exiled to Babylon for 70 years. Our "instant" society seems to think that the Lord's hand should be swifter than it is, and we forget that there are reasons why our answers to prayers may take decades.
Sometimes God's plan for us and His allowing so much time to pass can be frustrating (to say the very least), yet all the while He continues to watch over us. Sometimes the events that occur in our lives that we think are punishment or "unfortunate occurrences" can be the largest blessings - we only need to be patient and wait on Him to reveal the whole picture. A minor injury which can take you out of the game may just be the one thing that saves you from the life altering one you'd have received had you continued to "play". I learned that yesterday! God often moves us away without a reason or an explanation. He knows what we don't and sees the long end of things, where we can only see what it right in front of us.
Sometimes we never know why circumstances change, why we are "moved away" from certain things. God knows why - that's all that matters. In His time, He may reveal those reasons to you, then again, He may not. Sometimes He allows us to know why in order for us to be drawn back into His presence and realize that the whole time we were under His protection - generally from a worse situation than we were in originally.
Take heart! God has a good plan for you to follow. His motives are pure and worthy of praise. His reasons may not be clear at first, but most of the time, in HIS time, He will let you know why that particular part of your life was surrendered. Just accept what He's given you - there is a reason! Don't question it - just do it! Continue to live the life He's designed for you and all will be fine. Don't give the enemy room to stand, let alone take up residence. All things do work for the good for those who believe in His power and love!
