Good Thursday morning! Welcome to the snow and sleet of spring time in Nebraska. Problems: we all have 'em. A problem might come suddenly, or it may come on gradually. Sudden problems may have no warning at all - kind of by definition eh? - or it could be that you failed to see the warning signs. A gradual problem may have all manner of warning signs, but somehow all of your planning and maneuvering fails to change the dreaded outcome. A sudden problem might be called a tragedy, while the gradual problem may be called a trial, but in either case you and I may find the water depth is above the depth where our little mouth is asking, "What happened?" We suddenly or gradually seem to be drowning in the problem. Actually, these days it never seems to be just one problem, but a terrible combination of sudden and gradual problems - a storm of tragedies and trials.
As if you don't have enough problems of your own, pick up a newspaper or view your favorite news program and you can find all manner of problems that you didn't even know you had. The government, our federal government that is, has spent far more money than it has, something like 14 trillion dollars more. You may not have realized the depth of your spending problem. Shame on you! If you are thinking that it would be a good idea to recall all of the elected officials at the federal level and start over, you might be onto something there. The debt problem would not immediately disappear, but we would have a fresh, new set of folks in Washington to cause more problems...oops, maybe we should think about the general recall thing just a bit. Problems of that size are quite above my head. I don't know how to solve a 14 trillion dollar deficit. That problem I must take to the Lord in prayer.
But it isn't just the huge national problems, or the world tragedies that are above my head. Even my own problems often get away from me, but I live in hope. How can that be? We read the answer yesterday: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness..." (2 Corinthians 12:9) Could it be that our trials and tragedies are carefully controlled by God to hurt us just enough to make us call out to our Father in Heaven? I think that is very much the case. In the Bible we find that not one of us can save ourselves or each other through our own effort. In order to be saved we must call upon God's own Son; there is no other way to be saved and gain eternal life. If there is no other way, God will show us his grace through the careful application of our own weakness. You and I may see our own weakness through a trial where the problems mount up gradually until we cannot stop the coming avalanche; or we may see our weakness in a sudden tragedy that we can do nothing about. When we take those problems and turn to God, his power will be applied perfectly to cover our weakness.
To God be the glory; I may be weak, but my God is the Almighty One!
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment