Something that I've realized is that...I don't think I've ever seen a brand spanking new dump truck! Do they even exist? Or maybe when you go to pick one out, you sign the paperwork and receive your key...BAM! it ages about 15 years as you pull out of the lot?! I'm sure there is a "brand spanking new" dump truck salesman reading this and contemplating ways to hush me up, now that I think I may have figured out the secret.
Life is a lot like this, though. How often do I sit back and realize that I missed something along the way and I can't figure out how I got here. What happened? Should I have seen this coming? I've been doing a lot of contemplating lately. We're in a tough spot right now. I would love to have a dump truck right now that could just haul away the junk in our lives (and by "junk" I mean all the things that are making me sad right now) to a far, far away place. Someplace where it will be blown up or buried (maybe blown up then buried?), never to be seen again. Replaced with something new and useful. Something that I can feel better about.
I know that my heart is an idol factory, just like everyone else's (ya feel me, or nah? Actually, we could discuss that one later....). I want to be able to rest in something tangible. I like knowing that bills will be paid because we have enough money to pay them. I don't like not knowing if rent next month will even get paid. I like knowing that our jobs are secure and we can count on them. I don't like wondering "how long will this last?".
I know what I should be doing...and I feel like it should be easy. How can I put my trust in God, when I could be homeless, jobless, foodless, clothless, etc-less? What does it mean to "be still"?
God brings each of us to this point (of course "this point" is different for each of us) in order to bring us closer to Him. When we are at the point where we can no longer do for ourselves, we should be looking to Him. Of course, that doesn't always happen (not for everyone and not usually right away)...we start working harder, take on 15 more jobs, go to other people or things for comfort and reassurance, but ultimately when you're broken, that's when you're supposed to remember that God is the one who has everything under control. Not you. Not ever you.
Proverbs 19:21 - [There are] many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.
Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Joshua 1:9 - Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee whithersoever thou goest.
I don't know if I could be righteous like Job was in his sufferings (and I think he suffered way more in his life than I probably will), but I'm so thankful to be reminded that I don't have to be down in the dumps (ba dump cha!) because my God is God and He's all-powerful. My mountains are just dinky little situations to Him. They are but a few grains of sand in His universe-sized dump truck (did I take the analogy too far?).
I must though, I can't wait to see where all this is going! Whoo-wee! I'm looking forward to eternity.
Romans 8:28 - And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.
Matthew 19:26 - But Jesus beheld [them], and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
