Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. [Psalm 50:15 (NLT)]
Sign painted on the side of a plumber’s truck: “We repair what your husband tried to fix!”
My husband managed to track tar into the house on the bottom of his shoes. Unfortunately, he tracked it right onto the new bedroom carpet! I immediately got out a whole battery of chemicals and tried to clean it up. Needless to say, my efforts didn’t improve the situation; in fact, they only made it worse. In desperation, we did what we should have done in the first place: we got the name of a good carpet cleaner and called him. He spent as much time cleaning up the residue from my failed efforts as he did cleaning up the tar.
Have you ever tried a home repair only to end up in bigger trouble than when you started? Most of us simply don’t have the expertise for computer or appliance repair and few of us are licensed plumbers or electricians; unfortunately, many of us think we are! Furthermore, instead of getting help once we realize we’re in over our heads, we tend to muddle through, taking the situation from bad to worse. When we finally come to our senses and call in the experts, they not only have to fix the initial problem but also all the damage done in our failed attempts at repair.
It’s not just in our homes that we find things that need cleaning, mending, or repair. Often, there’s something in our lives that is faulty, damaged or broken. Even then, we tend to say, “I’ve got this!” when we truly don’t. It’s takes a fair amount of humility to finally admit that something in our life isn’t working and we just can’t fix it on our own. Before making things worse, however, we might want to think about calling on the number one life restorer: God. He truly is the answer to our prayers. While consulting His repair manual (the Bible) and several prayer sessions with him might be all we need, God also might steer us toward some expert earthly assistance.
Remember the old Maytag advertisements with the lonely repairman languishing in his office? Nobody ever called him. Maytag appliances may not need much fixing but our messed up lives surely do. As soon as we realize that we’ve got a problem with the way they’re functioning, let’s not hesitate; make that call to the expert before it gets any worse. God is heaven’s repairman; He is always there to rescue us. Just give Him a call!
That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” [Luke 2:7-12 (NLT)]
When I was young, back in the 1950s, sex education pretty much consisted of some talk about bees pollinating flowers. Married couples on television didn’t sleep in the same bed and husbands always seemed completely surprised when wives announced a baby was arriving. As a little girl, I naively thought marriage (not intercourse) was what produced babies and that God put babies in a woman’s tummy once she was married.
It’s that time of year again. Signs in stores say it, holiday lights in yards and on rooftops proclaim it, and we might greet one another in church with it. We send out cards with its message, sing of it and, yet, we’re bereft of it. We think we’ll have it when our chores are done, the cards mailed, the house cleaned, the tree decorated, the lights up, the cookies baked, the gifts purchased, the packages wrapped, and the bills paid. We sure we’ll get it if we reach our destination without delay or losing luggage or once our children arrive safely home. As long as everyone stays healthy, no food gets burnt, nothing is broken, politics isn’t discussed, no one gets drunk, and the back-ordered gift arrives in time, we’re sure to have it then. Yet, even when everything goes as planned (and believe me it won’t), it seems to escape us.
Filled with law, wisdom, history, prophecy, poetry, gospel, and letters, the Bible is the basis of our faith. None of us, however, were alive in 1400 BC when Genesis was written or at the end of the 1st Century when Revelation was penned. We’re neither Jews in Judah, Egypt, Israel, or Babylon nor 1st Century Jewish or Gentile converts in Rome or Greece and we have little in common with the Bible’s original audience. Although Scripture is timeless, that difference in time and culture makes us think of Scripture as impersonal and its words as general instructions dedicated to the community of faith at large. There is, however, nothing impersonal about God’s message to us and we are not faceless nameless members of His family. Scripture penned thousands of years ago was written specifically for you and me today. There is a personal relevant message for each one of us every time we read its words.
“It’s a masterpiece!” I exclaim while admiring my grand’s latest creation before hanging it on the refrigerator. In actuality, it is only a masterpiece in my grandmother’s eyes; to anyone else it is just a toddler’s effort with crayons and stickers. A real masterpiece is a work done with exceptional skill—it’s a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement. “Masterpiece” often describes an artist’s best work. While my grands need to hone their skills before creating a true masterpiece, we, my friend, are God’s masterpieces—His best work.
Devotions of the Heart 