Specialist

P 3177 God loves to play ‘peek-a-boo!”

/ DVH

In our daily lives we get glimpses of the Lord acting for us, and doing things around us. A glimpse by definition is a fleeting view, a passing glance, or a quick look into something briefly. This means that there are days that we pray for someone, like I did for my neighbour the other day, and she successfully dodged huge hailstones and part of someone else’s roof while she was driving. Whenever we hear a good report we know it is the Lord answering our prayers. Let’s acknowledge those moments, not just take them for granted.

We are, day by day, blessed and humbled by His loving care. So the idea of using Him for our own ends, is abhorrent. And it is definitely not the same as knowing Him! Using Him is about getting what I want, far more than it is about gaining knowledge of Who He is. We don’t need some snappy “twist God’s arm to get what I want” system – He loves us! These ‘peek-a-boo’ moments are meant to move us on into a lifestyle of gratitude. 

There are times when we’ve prayed for ourselves after a particularly difficult day and we find the rest of that day sort of, smooths itself out. And we know it is the Holy Spirit, doing what He does best, making our pathways straight and unhindered – He is helping us. Praise Him! On other not-so-fantastic days we pray and the same sort of junk plops on us, but it is a different day – and we are suddenly plunged into the land of worse. 

What changed? Why did He answer one prayer of escape and not the next one? I’m going to give you my little theory, but I want to stress that you should ask Him that question for yourself. When we pray for this and that, and the Lord graciously answers our prayers we are relegating Him into what I call the specialist category. When human beings have a need, and we can’t solve it, we go to a specialist. Whether it is about health, our car, or our house! 

It might seem very flattering to see the Lord as the kind of specialist we can consult with whenever we need help – but doing that will not form the kind of permanent on-going relationship that the bible talks about. Jesus wants to be our everything! If we are not grateful for we have been given, then I think we can end up relegating our Heavenly Father into a consultant category. SomeOne we call on because something or other isn’t working!

We need a much wider view – that is less about me and far more about seeing Him as Almighty God, Who rules heaven and earth! He loves us so much He has His eye on us! The bible tells us we are His people, so we do not ever have to suffer from an identity crisis. Jesus Himself knew He would always be heard. He died to give us the same privilege He had. However, the inner workings of our heart matters. Using God to make my life better is not “… the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.”(!!!) In spite of the terrible things He faced, Jesus knew His Father’s Way was the best way. So He actively chose to honour Father God’s will despite the pain it caused Him. 

When Christ became our sin, He was separated for the first time from His Father. I think that’s what killed Him – that relationship was so glorious the break in it was fatal to Him. It broke His heart. Oh, I pray that the people of God would be heartbroken over sin the way Jesus was! I believe He is our God-given illustration of how to be human, and walk with God Himself, in the Person of the Holy Spirit! 

The Lord Jesus’ teachings and parables are illustrations of what this life can look like when we follow Him wholeheartedly. We can see in the bible, for ourselves, that Jesus always chose His Father’s Way. So this is what we need to do … we need to understand that Father God is not merely our consultant – He is our GOD, first and foremost! He is in charge and we are not. We cannot afford to postpone obedience or ignore Him — because of the consequences. Ignoring Him means we miss out on knowing Him, as well as living our lives His way! The Way of the Cross.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:25,26 – “For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake will find it [that is, life with Me for all eternity]. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” 

Our Heavenly Father is not a despot. In the Old Testament we can hear Him pleading with Israel — the way a parent would plead with a beloved child who is on the wrong path. He wants us to come to Him purely because we have a deep faith in His goodness. HE will not ever do us harm! Jesus Christ chose to come willingly under His Father’s Leadership and supervision at all times, and He taught us that we need to do the same. There is no such thing as part-time Christianity in God’s eyes. He bought and paid for us with the most precious thing this world has seen – His own Son’s blood.

Now He wants us to choose to live our lives, HIS WAY, and we will see Him everywhere. When we deliberately  make that choice and stick to it.  In other words He won’t just play peek-a-boo, He will manifest Himself among us and we will become His people, not just in name but in deeds! Bye. 👋 

P 2772 How to wreck a perfectly good day!

/ DVH

The other day I had an eye specialist appointment. In the time we spent waiting for our turn, which was about forty minutes, we chatted to a number of people in the waiting room. I was totally blessed to be able talk with a lovely tiny little Indonesian lady sitting across from me. We even hugged each other when we said goodbye. 

She cried, I cried, I was just so blessed by her. She didn’t speak English very well, but somehow that didn’t matter. She told me she felt our hearts had connected. All I know is that I loved her instantly, and we knew each other like 10 minutes tops! Meanwhile, hubby chatted to her husband and shook his hand, and we gave them both stuff. We were so warm with this older couple the specialist asked us if we were all friends who knew each other before! 

When we finally made it in to see him, life took one of its nasty turns. First of all, I was only with the doctor for all of 20 minutes, and after that, the receptionist told us his bill was $400. That, BTW, is $20 per minute! Wow. He prescribed eye drops that can be bought over the counter for only $33, for a teeny-weeny bottle. Mortgage anyone? Did I mention we are pensioners not prosperous cattle farmers?!  

Hubby then patiently explained to me that the doctor had put the ‘liquid gold’(?) drops on a prescription, which meant it was free for us. Even after that I was still pretty ticked off with eye specialists! I need to be truthful, I kind of mumbled about it a lot and let the idea of paying out that huge amount  of money – for only twenty minutes(!) spoil the rest of our morning, by complaining.

In the afternoon, on the same day, I was chewing away on my Rice crackers – yes, I said rice crackers! And I broke a tooth. After a whole lot of effort, we could not find one dentist who was available who could look at said broken tooth asap. So I was back grumpy again, because dentists cost money, and $400 had already flown out of the window. Not to mention the whole thought of drilling, and teeth and stuff! I’m not all that keen on the dentist. 

Finally hubby found one who could see me the next day. This dentist hadn’t worked on the weekend before – they had only just put that appointment in, on the net as a trial! Hubby, bless him, went right on persevering, while I was still grumping about these things. There is a point to this saga, please hold …!!

Next morning we found out good old Medicare has given us $80 back on our $400 investment – many thanks to the Government. That was when I finally began to throw my grumpy ‘attitude’ into reverse. I said all that, to make this point – Father God was already working for me behind the scenes in ways I didn’t even comprehend. I couldn’t see Him, because I was much too busy developing a bad attitude! 🙄  Eventually I figured out my response left a whole lot to be desired, so I took my own advice, and repented. 

I’ve written about my very-bad-awful-terrible day so you can see what happens when someone concentrates on the negative. It means you can’t see the good stuff!  So let’s look at the good stuff and recap. We did have to pay $400, but God gave us $80 back unexpectedly. We sat in the eye specialist’s offices for about 40 minutes, and that meant I met the sweetest little lady and we shared a time of enjoying one another’s company briefly. My horribly expensive eye drops cost us … wait for it … zero. Then I broke a tooth. I went to the dentist on the weekend, gaining a free appointment that wasn’t normally there! And! It cost the same as it would have on a week day.

Overcoming in this life depends on how we look at stuff and that point was really driven home to me. I’m the kind of person that thinks that being grumpy is wasting a day, and I had just wasted one on something I couldn’t change – sigh – I hate it when I do that! The worst bit is, it is way too easy to concentrate on the bad things and totally miss the good. Especially when the bad stuff comes in waves. Are you feeling me right now?? 

So here’s a couple of verses to chew on:“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil;  for He gives to His beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:1&2.  “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch?” Matthew 6:27.

How do you wreck a perfectly good day? You totally forget what God says in the book. Bye. 👋

ps My tooth was fixed with a minimum of fuss, and we now have a new dentist. Like I said, it all depends on what we focus on.