I hope you’re doing much better than my car right now! Yesterday, as I was driving home, a light started to flash on my dashboard. I’d not seen this light before. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew it wasn’t ‘good news’! (Wouldn’t it be great if sometimes lights flashed in our cars just to let us know – they’re feeling fine?) But no! This was a big problem! The manual said, “Get this checked IMMEDIATELY.”
For the past thirty years, I’ve had a fantastic and reliable mechanic, Pete. He picked up the car this morning, promising to check it out on his computer. We prayed it was a minor issue, but sadly he wasn’t smiling when he knocked on the door less than half an hour later.
“It’s bad news!” he said and proceeded to share the gravity of the problem, which would cost almost as much to fix as the car is now worth (my faithful Skoda Octavia has served me so well for over 10 years, and it has the dents, scratches, and 150k mileage to prove it!)
So, unexpectantly, Amy and I find ourselves in need of getting a new car. Our car has died and now we’re faced with the challenging, and pressing, question, ‘Oh crap! What are we going to do about this?”
We weren’t planning on getting a new car anytime soon (in fact it was on our radar for about 4 years time, if my trusted Skoda could’ve survived that long!). So it’s easy to feel panicked. Anxious. Fearful. Frustrated. Disappointed. Confused. I’m feeling a little of all of that right now, for sure.
But in moments like this, which are trivial compared to many challenges some people are facing today, I’m so aware of the choices available to us. Choices that flow out of our beliefs! After all, our beliefs shape our behaviour, right?
In moments like this, I have to remind myself – tell my soul – about those deep-rooted beliefs and convictions. For example…
I know that life can be very hard at times.
Unexpected costly stuff happens.
But I believe God is good (Psalm 145:9).
He is WITH me (Matthew 28:20).
He is FOR me (Romans 8:31).
And He is Jehovah Jireh (God, My Provider Genesis 22:14)
(if it’s ALL on me then I’m in BIG trouble!).
My response to these truths has to be both prayerful and practical.
Prayerfully, we’re asking God for wisdom and favour. Wisdom to know how to use the resources available to us, and favour in making good decisions (that’s the practical response). God invites us into partnership. It’s not ALL on Him, but it’s NOT all on us. We’re asking God to show us our bit, and trusting Him to do His bit!
If God is ultimately in charge?
If He’s truly Lord and Saviour of our lives?
…then this is our prayer today:
God, YOUR car died. We want to partner with you in seeing that resolved. Show us how to wisely and sacrificially respond. Help us do our bit, and trust you to do your bit. Whatever happens, keep us in your peace, and we pray you’ll get buckets of glory.
Maybe this a prayer you might want to adapt for your own situation today – and we’d appreciate you joining us in our prayer too (and hopefully, next month, there’ll be a story to tell!)
