Following His Grace

There are moments in life when the Lord does not unfold something through a sermon, or through a study plan, or even through the quiet solitude of sitting alone with your Bible open in front of you.

Sometimes He unfolds it through relationship.

Through a conversation.

Through a divine connection that seems ordinary on the surface until suddenly it isn’t.

And that is what happened here.

You know the Lord works in mysterious ways. As it says in Isaiah 55:8, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. There is a divine serendipity that takes place where our lives begin to unfold in ways we do not understand. Things happen. We get to a certain place, and we are left wondering, How did I get here? Why are these things happening to me? And then, like a breath of the Spirit changing the sails—holy sails catching a wind you did not know was coming—your journey starts to unfold in a way that only makes sense because He is in it.

That is how today began to open for me.

In the natural unfolding of conversation, through one of those divine connections that only the Holy Spirit can orchestrate, something was said to me that instantly lit up in my spirit. It was not random. It was not me just happening to land on a verse. I was given this verse through conversation, through fellowship, through the living way the Spirit threads revelation through the Body. And as soon as it was spoken, I knew there was something on it.

That is what led me to John 13:7.

And those of you who read what I write every day already know how much I love the book of John. Some people would say Psalms is the most beautiful book. Others would say Song of Solomon. And I love them all, but John… oh, John. John is my favorite. John, in my opinion, is the book of love. It is the love letter from the Lord to us through John, the one he loved. And I laugh as I say that because, again, those of you who read me frequently know how often I talk about accessing your inner John and claiming what he said—being the one he loves. Because I am the one he loves. And so are you.

So when I looked at this passage today, it was shown to me in a way I had never seen before.

Especially coming off of Holy Week.

Seven days ago was Resurrection Sunday.

Fourteen days ago was Palm Sunday.

And what we are looking at in John 13 would have taken place on what we call Holy Thursday—at the Last Supper, before the crucifixion, before the horror of Friday, before the silence of Saturday, before the blaze of Sunday morning. So we are only roughly ten days removed from having just walked through these sacred events again in remembrance, and I had already written about the washing of the feet. But I did not see this until today.

And when I saw it, it opened up a whole new avenue.

The phrase that was spoken to me through this divine connection immediately hit my spirit and captured me when I heard him say, following His grace.

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The Verse That Opened Everything

In John 13:7, Yeshua says to Peter:

“What I am doing you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”

— John 13:7

On the surface, it almost sounds like a gentle interruption. A soft answer to Peter’s confusion. But when you stay with it, when you let yourself stand in that room with them, with the basin and the towel and the water and the awkward tenderness of that moment, it becomes much more than a simple response.

It becomes a promise.

And it becomes a summons.

Because what He is really saying is this:

You do not understand yet.

But you will.

There is so much mercy in that.

And there is so much process in that.

Because He is not rebuking Peter for not understanding.

He is not shaming him for not seeing.

He is honoring the fact that some things in the kingdom can only be understood by walking through them.

By living them.

By staying close long enough for the sequence to unfold.

And that is where this pierced me so deeply.

Because it is one thing to understand something intellectually.

It is another thing entirely to experience it.

And that word—experience—has already been burning in me these last several days. It was the very thing that arrested me in Acts 4:12, where I had been writing about the power of the Name through which we must experience salvation. Not just agree with salvation. Not just talk about salvation. But experience it. Enter it. Step into it. Know it as a living reality.

And now here, in John 13:7, that same thread is present again.

You do not understand yet…

but you will.

Because you are not meant merely to analyze what I am doing.

You are meant to walk with Me through it until it becomes clear.

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The Sandals, the Feet, and the Holy Ground

This is where the passage opened even further for me.

Because in Hebrew culture, the sandals and the feet carry covenant meaning.

They are not incidental.

They are legal.

They are sacred.

They are tied to possession, inheritance, transfer, and consecration.

Think of Moses at the burning bush:

“Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

— Exodus 3:5

Think of Joshua:

“Then the captain of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.”

— Joshua 5:15

Think of Ruth, where sandal removal was tied to covenant transfer and legal possession:

“Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning the redemption and the exchange of land to confirm any matter: a man removed his sandal and gave it to another; and this was the way of confirmation in Israel.”

— Ruth 4:7

So now here is Yeshua.

The King.

The Holy One.

The One who is about to go to the cross.

And He is on His knees, touching their feet, washing the very place that would carry them into what came next.

Do you see how much is happening there?

This is not just humility.

This is preparation.

This is not just service.

This is consecration.

This is not just kindness.

This is inheritance language hidden inside a basin.

Because He is cleansing the place that walks.

The place that stands.

The place that treads upon ground.

The place that, in covenant imagination, is tied to possession and movement and claim.

And when He says, “You do not understand now, but afterward you will understand,”He is telling Peter that this act means far more than Peter’s categories can yet hold.

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What Peter Could Not Yet See

How could Peter understand in that moment?

How could any of them?

How could they see that what looked like an act of menial service was also a prophetic sign? That what looked like humility was also a handover of authority? That what looked like cleansing dirt was actually preparing them to walk into a new covenant inheritance?

They could not see it yet because the sequence was not complete.

First the washing.

Then the betrayal.

Then the cross.

Then the burial.

Then the resurrection.

Then the Spirit.

Only after the pattern unfolded would they understand what the washing had signified.

Only after the cross would they understand that the kingdom does not operate by domination, but by surrender.

Only after the resurrection would they understand that what looked like weakness was actually power.

Only after Pentecost would they understand that they themselves were now being sent to walk in the very pattern He had embodied before them.

And that is why the word afterward matters.

Because kingdom understanding often arrives in sequence.

Not all at once.

Not before obedience.

Not before trust.

But through following.

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The Basin as a Portal

What I did not see before today is that the basin was not just a basin.

It was a portal.

A small act carrying a massive reality.

The kingdom does this over and over again. God hides enormous things in ordinary-looking moments. Water. A towel. Feet. And yet inside that act is an entire redefinition of power, inheritance, and leadership.

The basin becomes the place where Yeshua rewrites what it means to possess.

The way up is down.

The way to carry authority is through humility.

The way to inherit is not by grasping, but by yielding.

What He is washing is not only dust.

He is washing their understanding.

He is washing their framework.

He is washing their expectations of how power should look.

And He is preparing them to walk differently.

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Following His Grace

And this is the part that settled deepest in me.

Because when Yeshua says, “You do not understand now, but afterward you will understand,” He is not only explaining the moment.

He is revealing the way grace works.

Grace does not only forgive you.

Grace leads you.

Grace carries you through what you do not yet understand.

Grace allows you to keep following Him when you cannot yet make sense of where He is taking you.

And I realized…

how many times in my own life I’ve been in that exact place.

Moments where I’ve thought—

Why this?

Why now?

What is happening?

And yet, if I’m honest…

there has always been a “soon.”

A moment where it clicks.

Where what felt confusing… becomes clear.

Where what felt painful… becomes purposeful.

Where what felt random… becomes divine.

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The Invitation Hidden in the Verse

So this is not just a verse about foot washing.

And it is not just a verse about Peter’s confusion.

It is a verse about us.

About the moments where we are standing in front of something God is doing that we cannot yet interpret.

The places where we say, Lord, I don’t understand this.

And He says, You do not understand now… but you will.

Stay with Me.

Follow My grace.

Let the sequence unfold.

Because some things cannot be understood from outside the process.

They must be lived.

They must be walked through.

They must be experienced.

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I Hear the Spirit Say:

“Beloved, you keep asking Me for understanding… but I am inviting you into following.

You want clarity before movement, but My kingdom does not unfold that way. I do not reveal everything at once—I reveal in rhythm, in sequence, in steps that require your trust more than your comprehension.

Did you notice?

I did not explain the washing before I did it.

I did not define the cross before I walked toward it.

I did not wait for their understanding before I invited their surrender.

And I am not waiting for yours either.

Follow My grace.

Because My grace is not only what saves you—it is what leads you. It is what carries you through the places where your mind cannot yet go, but your spirit already knows.

You call it confusion…

I call it formation.

You call it delay…

I call it preparation.

You call it not making sense…

I call it holy sequencing.

There are things I am doing in your life right now that you cannot interpret from where you stand. Not because you are lacking, but because you are mid-process.

And I will not rush what I am refining.

Stay with Me in the moment you are in.

Let Me wash what I am washing.

Let Me remove what cannot go where you are going.

Let Me prepare your steps for ground you have not yet seen.

Understanding will come.

But it will come as you walk.

It will come as you yield.

It will come as you remain.

And when it comes, it will not just be knowledge—it will be knowing. It will not just be clarity—it will be transformation.

You will see what I was doing… because you will have become it.

So do not pull back because you cannot yet explain it.

Lean in.

Follow Me anyway.

Follow My grace.

Because I am not leading you into confusion…

I am leading you into revelation.”

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Final Thought — The Grace That Leads Before It Explains

Maybe that is the deepest beauty of this passage.

Yeshua does not require Peter to understand before Peter can receive.

He simply asks him to trust.

And maybe that is where some of us are right now.

Not in a place of understanding.

But in a place of invitation.

A place where He is doing something we cannot yet name.

A place where He is washing what needs to be washed, cleansing what needs to be cleansed, preparing our steps for ground we have not yet walked on.

And the invitation is not: understand first.

The invitation is: follow His grace.

Because the grace of God does not only meet you at the end of the story when everything makes sense.

It walks with you through the middle.

And one day, when the sequence has unfolded, when the cross and the resurrection and the Spirit have all done their work in the hidden places of your own life, you will look back and say:

Now I see.

Now I understand.

Now I know what He was doing.

And by then, you will not just see differently.

You will walk differently too.