Dirty Pool
The devil plays dirty pool. I shared how grief took a bite out of me yesterday concerning my father's birthday. Jesus and I were having a growing time and I was getting to a good place when the phone rang. We are facing a home repair issue and it was the builder with the quote. The quote was five times what we'd been told to expect! I wanted to vomit. It's obvious this builder didn't really want to take on this tedious task, but I felt as if I'd been slapped across the face. We had been taken advantage of by the first builder, which has caused this current issue.
Here's the kicker. What I would have done is called my father, who always had the answer to all building problems and loved solving them. My initial reaction was…The devil is playing really dirty on this day when I'm already hurting. The lesson for me is…You still have a father to go to, go to your heavenly Father. (I of course called my husband and son before I prayed. I'm still a project in progress.)
Shifting into control gear, there was another lesson to be learned. I've been SLOWLY beginning to clean out the house, so when God calls me home our children will not have so much to deal with. The other day God challenged me to take all the money I might make in a yard sale and give it to our church, which has just voted to buy land and build a building. It took me a moment to reach obedience, as I'd rather spend that money on our chidden and grandchildren. When the phone call came from the builder my immediate thought was we would need every penny of what we could sell to cover this new expense. God quickly reminded me to take inventory of where my security lies. Just yesterday I had texted 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 to a friend. Now I needed to wade through those words myself.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed,…Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light ad momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
