Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—always a source of encouragement and inspiration for Christians everywhere. 

 

Recently I read this quote from inspirational writer and poet, Nancy Spiegelberg:

 

"Lord,  I crawled across the barrenness to you with my empty cup,

uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment.

If only I had known you better, I'd have come running with a bucket."

 

Why is it that we think it is normal to do nice things for our children, with or without their asking, but when it comes to asking a favor of God, we delay, believing that he is too busy to pay attention to the small things happening (or not happening) in our lives? Why is it that we save our serious asking for serious times and serious problems? We quote scriptures that teach us that God sees a sparrow fall, but we have trouble applying that principle to the everyday things that happen to us and our children. Or worse, when we come to God with a request, we approach Him with an empty cup, when actually He has in mind filling a bucket.

 

Is God interested in the small things in our lives? Without doubt, he is. We may call them favors. God calls them grace. And His grace is always available. The Apostle James wrote to the Church (quoting Proverbs 3:34), "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble."

 

This week's epistle is entitled, "Favors." Read on whenever you are ready to receive God's grace. Forget the cup; get out the bucket. God is about to start pouring.

 

Tom Barnard

A Senior Encourager

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Favors

Tom Barnard

 

o parents favor their children? Most parents do. Do parents do favors for their children? Again, yes. Are parents motivated to do favors for their children in the hope that their children will return those favors, quid pro quo (favor back for favor given)? Not any parents I know.

 

Where does this concept of granting favors come from? You are already ahead of me. It comes from God. Like every other good thing in life, favor-granting begins in the heart of God. The Bible calls these favors “Grace.” In 2 John 3 the Apostle prayed that his readers would receive “Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son.” The Psalmist declared in 84:11, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” I like these words from A.W. Tozer:

 

“Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving.”

 

How can we receive these “benefits” from God? For most of us, it begins by our asking. Jesus said,

 

“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?” Matthew 7:9-11.

 

Let me tell you a story. Last week I was repairing an antique lamp. Someone had messed up a bracket that was integral to the lamp shade. I decided to adapt another bracket to the lamp shade, but I needed a certain kind of nut to make it work. Actually, I needed three of them. I looked through the parts bins in my shop but couldn’t find what I wanted. So I made a quick trip to the hardware store. I figured that if anyone had the nut I needed, the local hardware store would have it in stock. To my dismay, I found nothing. All the clerks were busy that day, so I headed home frustrated and almost angry.

 

The next morning a thought came to me. In my mind I visualized the exact nut that I needed to complete the project. I returned to the same hardware store, determined now to locate the nut that I had visualized. It had to be there. I told myself that if I saw it, I would recognize it from the mind picture I had.

 

I found my way back to the section in the store where fasteners are stocked. There were fasteners of all kinds—steel, plastic, stainless steel, brass, aluminum—in various kinds of finishes, and in multiple sizes. I searched very carefully for the nut I needed. I could not find it. I tried a second aisle. Same result. Then this guy approached me and asked if he could help. When I described what I was looking for, he led me to the aisle I had just left. In two minutes he found the nut I needed. In the exact size and finish! It was obvious he was not an employee. (He wasn’t wearing a red vest).  He said, “I work for the company that manufactures these fasteners. Sometimes on Saturdays I visit various stores to see if I can help customers find what they want.” The service was free, and the fasteners cost only $ .69 each. What a deal!

 

Do you understand what I am saying? On Friday I got no help at all. On Saturday, help arrived—just in time to help me solve a problem. Was this a coincidence? The thought never entered my mind. Did God have a guy waiting for me to show up on Saturday at the right time at the right store? Makes sense to me.

 

It was a small thing. What would have happened if it had been a big thing? Does God enjoy being at the right place at the right time on the right day to help his children with problems they can’t solve? I think He does. He invites us to ask. But even when we don’t—when we think we can solve the problem by ourselves—He has some guy there waiting to help us find the right aisle. I should have got his name.