Psalm 46:1-2a Tuesday

God is our refuge AND STRENGTH, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...Psalm 46:1, 2a NKJV

I asked my mother years ago if she could take a day off from her job so she could help me do something. She told me she couldn’t because she had to work. I told her that God would work it out if she could leave and help me, to which she replied, “God doesn’t move my pencil.” (I realize God doesn’t want us to up and leave our jobs just on a whim, but if leaving our job for a short period of time enables us to help someone else, then why not give Him a chance to work it out. Plus I knew my dad was her boss and I thought surely he would let her). I did not reply to her what I thought I should have, but am glad I didn't--If God can make the trees that made your pencil then I believe He might be the God who can move your pencil. I believe He might even be the God who made your finger that moves the pencil. I believe He might even be the God who made the ligaments, muscles, tendons, bones, blood vessels, arteries, veins, brain and central nervous system that enables you to move your finger. I believe in Him we live and move and have our being and when we think WE have to do something because HE can’t, we greatly underestimate God and His power.

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. When my son David was in sixth grade he wanted to buy a compact disc player. He asked how much it would cost and then started counting the money in his bank to see if he had enough money to make it happen. We knew full-well that he didn’t but he told us he would pay half if we would come up with the rest. We told him we would, knowing full-well that he couldn’t.

Well…………………….David “worshiped” Michael Jordan, as most boys did at that time at that age. He had Michael Jordan t-shirts, jerseys, shoes, probably socks, pendants--you name it; he probably had it. Well, not only did he have all the right stuff to be like Michael Jordan he practiced shooting the basketball like Michael Jordan did, especially the three-pointers, every day. He just forgot to practice the lay-ups.

Well………………………as we often did, we attended a WKU basketball game where people at random were selected to “shoot for loot.” Pam Hereford, the person in charge of picking the people who shot for loot, happened to be a member of our church and knew David loved to play basketball. So, she asked him, only one day after we had talked with him about buying the CD player, if he would like to “shoot for loot.” And I bet you know what he said. And I bet you know the rest of the story.He had three shots: one lay-up, one free-throw and one three-pointer. He would make $25.00 if he hit only one shot. He would make $50.00 if he hit two shots and he would make $100.00 if he hit all three.

Well……………………….he missed the lay-up, hit the free-throw AND THE THREE-POINT SHOT which gave him $50.00--enough money to buy half the CD player. Viola’ he had come up with the money. And we immediately went to Wal-Mart.

I’ve never forgotten this story nor has anyone else in our family who saw it happen. We all came away amazed at God’s strength and his power to do for David what David could not do for himself. When David, the psalmist, says that God is our strength in times of trouble, he knows from first-hand experience. He had seen God deliver him from the mouth of lions and the hands of Goliath. I don’t know what your trouble is today, but I know if you were to ask David, my son or David, the psalmist they would both tell you He can do more for you than you could imagine. And you may not even have to ask.