The other night I had a flat tire while driving to our Ministry Center. Thankfully I had a spare tire and changed it. I was taught by my father to always have a spare tire in the car, to always check if it was well inflated, just to be ready. It does give you peace of mind knowing that just in case you do get a flat tire there is a spare tire in the back of the car that you can replace it with. Imagine the inconvenience of getting a flat and not having a spare!
But then I was not able to have the flat tire vulcanized because the damage was just to big, and I needed to replace the tire. It was a Friday night when I got the flat. The whole day Saturday I was home preparing for Sunday and I completely forgot about getting a new tire. Sunday passed, and Monday I was physically down and could not get myself to drive around and get a tire.
So, for the past three days I have been driving around without a spare tire. I noticed myself a little more conscious of the state of the tires, constantly checking if they looked ok. And I also noticed how more prayerful I had become concerning the tires! Every time I got in the car I would always ask the Lord's protection that I would not get a flat tire again, knowing I did not have a spare tire available. Every trip I made I would always be thankful to the Lord that I reached my destination without a flat tire!
But I also know that when I eventually get my new tire, and have the spare tire available again, I will be a little more assured and less anxious concerning the tires.
I started pondering about this and realized how we are so much like this in our relationship with the Lord! We have so many "spare tires" in our lives - money in the bank, a secure position in the company we work in, a profitable business, bright career - that we go through life not really worried about something happening to us. And we go through life almost forgetting that the Lord is there, that He is the One who is taking care of us. Until we get a "flat tire" - when something wrong happens, unforeseen circumstances come our way, and all of a sudden we're down to just the four tires that we have, and we need to trust in the Lord every step of the way. This is when we begin to seriously pray, crying out for help! How hard it is to trust the Lord when we have not been trusting in Him from the beginning.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
I'm sure you've noticed how the Lord has this way of taking away the availability of "spare tires" in our life, if only to show us that He is the only one that we should be trusting in, because He is the only one reliable enough to see us through life. This is why the Lord wants us trusting in Him, acknowledging Him as the foundation and strength of our life, with our without the spare tires of our life.
Let's not depend on God only when the spare tire is gone. Let's depend on Him always.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NIV)
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
No comments:
Post a Comment