I found myself looking down at my feet with sadness in my heart as reality set in that I was standing in a puddle of chicken and noodles. It wasn’t a bowl of chicken and noodles that my kids had dropped…or a tupperware full of this goodness. NO! It was an entire crockpot of happiness that had fallen to its end. “Ronnie, we have a disaster.”
Have you ever had the bottom of a crockpot fall off? Well…it’s a sad day and I hope you never experience it.
I trusted that crockpot to hold together. I trusted my soccer-mom mini van to start this morning. I trusted the light switch flipping to result in light illuminating this room and I trusted this chair I just sat down in not to fall apart.
Every now and then the crockpot may shatter, the battery may go dead, the lightbulb may go out, the chair my break…and in these times, there’s a moment of surprise. It catches us off guard.
I’ve realized this can be somewhat of the exact opposite with God. We pray for things for days, weeks, months, years…whatever it may be and then there’s a moment of surprise when He answers. It catches us off guard. It’s like… Wait…He showed up. He answered!
Do we go to the light switch and think…please come on…every time we flip it? Do we sit down with hesitance wondering if a chair is going to hold us? Do we nervously turn our keys expecting a 50/50 shot of the vehicle actually working? Probably not!
I mean there are those moments, of course, when you just know something is wrong.
I had a 25 year old jeep several years ago and every single time I went to start it I expected it to poop out on me the first time, then I’d flip it off, give it a little gas and turn the key again for it to finally start. I was always surprised when it worked the first time because this wasn’t the norm.
BUT shouldn’t we trust God more than a chair, a vehicle, a light switch, etc? Shouldn’t we expect Him to come through as He says He will rather than being surprised when He does?
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. (Psalm 91:1-2)