Down to Nothing, Thursday, May 20, 2010

Reading: II Corinthians 12:9, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Just imagine coming home, walking in the door finding no one else at home. You walk around to double check the rooms to see if anyone is there. You notice that clothes are missing from closets and other things are missing. You walk out into the kitchen and see a note that is left on the counter which reads, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and I just don’t think we should be married anymore”. You crumble into a chair and the phone rings. You debate whether to answer it or not but you see that it’s your employer. After you answer, you hear your boss at the other end of the line say, “I’m really sorry to have to tell you like this but we are having to cut back. Your position is being eliminated. You won’t need to come in tomorrow.” You hang up the phone and numbly stagger over to sit in the living room. The phone rings again but instead of answering the phone, you let the answering machine pick it up. You’re not even paying attention as you just sit and stare at nothing. You snap out of it as you hear your child’s name on the answering machine. You jump up as the voice announces that your child was brought to the emergency room from being hit by a car in a cross walk but they didn’t survive. Okay, take a minute and think through what condition you would be in at that point. Why does God choose to use us when we are weak? Why? Because it is at that point that we have let go of the things that we have such a tight grip on because of how dearly we care about them and throw both arms around the feet of God.

Why wait until the point in our lives where everything is crumbling around us to realize our weakness in controlling our surroundings? Why not simply surrender all that you are holding onto today and wrap your arms completely around the feet of God?


REVIEW

How were you able to demonstrate your gratitude for your refuge today?



How were you able to run to your place of refuge and how were you able to renew your strength and rest?