I was thinking this morning about a few problems I have been working through. It reminded me of a time when I lived at Honey Lake several years ago. Many things had gone wrong that day, and I worked through a myriad of serious problems all day and through late evening. By nightfall, it seemed as though I had hardly made a dent in them.
I went to bed but was too depressed with my heavy load to sleep, so I got up and walked out on my back deck and listened for a while to a symphony of frogs encircling Honey Lake. It sounded like one of them would ask in a loud bass voice, “How deep?” And another would answer from across the lake in a crisp tenor voice, “Knee deep”. How deep? – Knee deep – How Deep? – Knee deep – How deep? – Knee deep, their voices boomed across the lake like a frog concert.
I remember it had been lightly raining at the plantation for much of that day and I could smell its fresh cleansing scent of the wet dirt and trees. I looked up at the sky which had cleared up enough to allow me a peek at billions of stars twinkling. As I stood there weary and exhausted from my day’s battle, I admired God’s creation. I gently prayed and asked Him to please comfort me after my long dreadful day.
Just then I saw a firefly and then another and another. I smiled.
As I stood there contemplating my situation, I remembered that God is indeed spirit and is everywhere. He was standing right there at my side watching the light show put on by His little lightning bugs and listening to the frogs singing the blues. I quite imagine that He put on that little show to cheer me up.
It did.
The Bible states that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without God seeing it. I suppose fireflies are the same, and if He sees those tiny creatures, He surely sees me and understands the trepidations of my day. I thought about how much God loves me. He knew me before He created me. He knows my name, how many hairs are on my head, my innermost secrets, my purpose, and my heart. He knew about all the problems that I had yesterday and the ones that remained and of course knew that they would all be ancient history and completely resolved soon enough. As I stood there thinking about it, they already seemed so insignificant that I was smiling.
I know that He wants me to trust in Him and He wants me to succeed. No problem is too heavy for His shoulders. Shame on me for trying to take the control away from Him.
It’s nice to have a Father who loves us beyond measure, who watches over us every second of every minute of every day. Not just any Father mind you, rather a Father who loves us so much that He literally sent His one and only Son to lay down His life for us in order that we might see heaven. I consider His love of greater value than the entire world or universe and all they contain.
There was a song in the 60’s with lyrics in part that went like this, “The smell of death is all around me”. Before I became a Christian, I lived that song’s lyrics and I saw too much death and evil. I had no one to turn to in those dark days and was far from God and galloping away from Him as fast as I could. I remember hitchhiking all day one winter day on a flat cold and windy road somewhere in Canada and could not get a ride by nightfall. When it got dark, I just went to the side of the road in some bushes and placed my coat on the ground, and laid down and tried to sleep. As I laid there on my back shivering from the cold looking up at those same stars twinkling down at me, I never felt so alone in all my life. I just felt like crying. Little did I know that God was right there with me desiring for me to go with Him so He could take care of me.
I’m so glad that I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. Even though I know that all my days won’t be vanilla, I don’t have to be all alone as I fight my way through the bad ones anymore.
I look forward to today being a great day! I pray that your day will be great too.
Isaiah 43:1
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Have a great weekend and go to church this Sunday! It is a very special time of the year with Easter just around the corner.