Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Remember When...

"Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverance s in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson’s thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson’s words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long." Charles Spurgeon

Each one of us is able to recall times when the Lord has delivered us out of a time of sorrow, sickness or temptation. We who call ourselves Christians know that our Heavenly Father is there looking down and keeping us under His wings.  Yet at times we struggle with faith in the heat of the battle, shall I say... when the tempest is nigh we tend to grow faint and weary from the great war for our souls... The illustration that Spurgeon gives here of Samson is so true to our human nature whether we are young or old.  A victory of killing a thousand Philistines and then doubting God to provide him with a drink...  Oh the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak...

As I watch my children interact with one another, I see this conflict in their everyday life playing out in many ways.  Evan and Aaron can be playing beautifully one moment and then, BAM! "That's mine! Mom, Aaron took my truck!"  ...and so goes the life of a five and two year old.  So, as I take Aaron up into my lap and try to explain to him in a way he can understand, he needs to give Evan back the toy. Sometimes he is very willing and can be 'encouraged' to do so with the presentation of another toy, and then other times there is no way he is going to give it up.  Teaching these two little boys who are obviously at different levels of understanding to be kind and loving to one another is to say the least a challenge! They interact for almost all waking hours of the day and for the most part play beautifully together. 

Isn't that like us... we're going along pretty smoothly, not too many bumps in the road and then suddenly we hit a really big pot hole, and crash! There we are sitting on our rumps with this 'what happened' look on our face.  Questions like, "Why now? What is the reason for this? What am I supposed to learn out of this disaster?" pop up instantly... faith... where did it go? Didn't the Lord just answer that prayer two days ago? Didn't He just this morning provide us with the answer we were seeking after?  Faith... sudden challenges present themselves and what do we do with them?

We need to keep looking up... we need to trust that He does have a plan... we need to remember all the wonderful things He has done for us... remember when...

Until next time,
Jean


     

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