Other passages, such as the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, shows God directly causing various events to occur -- particularly, the plagues, not the least of which is the killing of the firstborn sons (unless the blood of the lamb was found on the door way).
The storms that the disciples experienced at different times, and the calming of the sea, show God's power over nature and thus another aspect of His Sovereignty.
This doctrine is a controversial one, but when the rubber meets the road, the doctrine of Sovereignty is almost solely responsible for how we respond to our life experiences.
The rubber met the road this past week -- quite literally. Well, first, it left the road, and then it gripped the road, and then it left the road completely... We were making our bi-weekly round trip from Ohio to Tennessee and back with two vehicles and a big load of boxes and other belongings early this past week. I was driving the truck and 16 foot trailer fully loaded through the mountains of north-eastern Tennessee, and my wife was driving the car behind us with two of our kids.
There were pretty bad storms that day in spots as we drove over the mountains.
I was riding along, listening to the radio, and my cell phone rang -- I expected it would be my wife, but I was stunned to hear her crying in a panic, "Scott, I wrecked! We hydroplaned and then the tires caught grip, and threw us around backwards, and across the road into the ditch!"
Wednesday was another day when my understanding of, and belief in, God's Sovereignty was to be tested...
This episode started about 1PM on Wednesday, and by the time we had contacted AAA, waited on a police report to be made, contacted our insurance company, and waited for the tow truck, it was already nearly 4:15... We were also trying to work with our insurance company to arrange a rental car -- which turned out to take another 3 hours! There were no rental cars available within an hour drive in any direction, and after several missed calls and voice messages, we finally made contact with the rental agency, and they had to drive the car an hour to where we were stuck.
A minor detail -- the truck was loaded, and we simply could not have fit our whole family into the truck.
So, here we are, sitting in the car in the parking lot of the wrecker service, making phone calls, and trying to figure out our next step... It had already been about 6 hours since we left home, and we were long past due for a restroom stop... So, across the street we traipsed to the gas station where we quickly decided on plan B after one glance into the outside restroom... We ended up deciding to go into the church next door and ask if we could use their restrooms. We could see people arriving and their sign indicated VBS was this week, so there were plenty of people around...
Of course, they had no problem with us using their facilities, and my wife and I did so (our kids had stayed at the gas station to get something to drink). As we were walking out the door of the church, a gentleman asked us if we would like to join them for dinner -- they were serving their VBS workers and their families...
Now, this man had no idea of the circumstances we were in -- this car accident is not all that is happening in our lives right now. I still am unemployed, we are in the middle of building a new home (caught in between the finishing and moving stages), have two mortgages, and now, we have a wrecked car... Stuck in a town basically on foot (can't be running a 16 foot trailer through the drive through, and not enough room for all of us anyway), and our three teenagers helped remove all doubt that dinner time had definitely arrived!
So, when this man offered for us to eat dinner, the tears fell without my ability to hold them back. Through this humbling experience, I clearly "heard" God "telling" me, "I will feed you and your family."
I can scarcely recount this situation without crying -- out of a combination of thankfulness and humility before the Sovereign God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills!
Why is this so humbling? God had provided a good job for me -- the world may not have considered us "rich", but we certainly had plenty, and we knew that God had provided it. My wife and I were both burdened to be people that give and that help those in need. We have not been accustomed to being those in need -- who walk into a church off the street asking for help. God truly put us in a position where we did just that, and He used His children -- that we had never before met -- to provide a meal for us! They offered to feed us without knowing anything about us! We were total strangers, and yet, they offered God's love in the form of providing much needed sustenance!
God is definitely Sovereign, and while hearing my wife panicked on the phone seems like the result of a mere "accident", I can see God's Sovereign hand shaping and changing us through this scenario.
We can see several blessings through this past week... I first must recount the repeated humbling of God's provision since Wednesday evening!
On Thursday, my brother came to help me installing doors, and his wife sent a crock pot of ham and beans for dinner -- we have a trailer parked outside the new house, but we don't yet have a working kitchen, so cooking has pretty much been limited to microwave meals and the grill... God (through my brother and sister-in-law) fed us on Thursday evening... Then, on Thursday evening, my wife has been going to a Bible Study with some of our new Ohio friends, and she came home and told me that her new friends had decided to make dinner for us for Friday evening -- steaks, potatoes, and vegetables... Then, we got to church this morning, not realizing there was a covered dish church dinner today, and of course, they invited us to stay for that. On our way out the door, several people handed us full or nearly full bowls for us to bring home.
Each time, I have been brought to tears seeing God provide in such a real way since we cannot afford to be eating out, and the kids are sick of hamburgers and microwave meals...
We have been blessed by Providence!
There are other blessings that I have neglected to mention -- my wife and our kids were not injured in the car accident! It was not an "impact accident" -- the car basically slid to a stop (sideways and backwards), but with no sharp impact. The airbags did not even deploy! No other cars were involved! Though the traffic was heavy on the interstate that day, somehow, this all happened without even clipping any other vehicle! While we did have to wait several hours for a rental car, we were able to make all the arrangements using the cell phone, and we were able to arrive here in Ohio safely nearly 2AM Thursday morning!
I refuse to believe that we have seen the end of the blessings from this apparent "accident"... God will provide -- we have but to wait and see how...
Is God Sovereign? Yes, I most definitely continue to believe that He is, and He has seen fit to both test and reinforce my belief during this past week.
Lord, help me to trust what You tell us in your Word -- that you will take care of Your children (Matthew 6:25-34). Thank you for both your Sovereignty and your Love -- which together mean you can and will work all things together for good (from verse 28 of Romans 8:15-32).
No comments:
Post a Comment