A good buddy of mine came
over to fix my sprinklers yesterday. A couple weeks ago, when I had turned my
outside water back on, things started happening that were not necessarily supposed
to be happening. The fact that there was a problem was quite apparent; what
that problem was, however, was far beyond where my limited expertise in
sprinklerology could take me. So, Mick came over, quickly diagnosed it as a
dual problem – stuck valve and bad sprinkler head – and said, “Let me go to my
truck and get my plumbing box.”
Now, to someone like me who
has a/one/uno box (sparsely populated
with various orphaned sockets, a random assortment of screwdrivers, a hammer,
and a long spool of heavy gauge wire which must have spontaneously generated in
that dark, murky environ since I can think of no situation in which I would
have actually purchased, let alone used, such an item), the fact that Mick has
a box specific just to plumbing issues causes a bit of envy and no small amount
of awe. You got a problem? Mick’s got just the box to fix it!
That put me in mind of a
story I read a few days ago out of 1 Samuel 4. The Israelites and the
Philistines were tussling again. A battle took place at Ebenezer, and the Israelites
got the wood taken to them. After licking their wounds, they realize they’re
faced with a situation – how do they defeat a Philistine army that is bigger,
stronger, and better armed than they are.
Then, somebody spoke up,
“Uh…don’t we have a box for that?”
And they did. They had the
God-box – that fancy little Ark of the Covenant thing that pretty much just sat
around Shiloh gathering dust while the Israelites did the hand-jive with Baal
and Ashtoreth. Next thing you know, the Israelite army is lined up again ready
to go – their God of Surpassing Crateness leading the way, attended by Eli the
High Priest’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas (two guys who could give Charlie Sheen
a lesson or two on “Winning”).
You’ve probably figured out
the rest. Armies meet, Israel crumbles like a bunch of broccoli, the ark is
captured, Hophni and Phinehas are killed (and all God’s people said…), and Eli,
upon hearing the news of the captured ark, dies in such a way so as to have
every teacher in every school in every nation crying out, “See, I told you so!”
Now, jumping 3,000 years
forward, it’s easy for us to say, “Silly Israelites, you should know you can’t
put God in a box.” However, I think I’ll hold off a minute before I
condescendingly pat them on their theologically ignorant little heads and send
them on their way. Because as I do a 20/20 hindsight over my life, I’m a bit
ashamed to see how many boxes I’ve tried to stuff God into.
My most recent attempts centered
on the comfortable staff position I had at my previous church and my steadily
growing retirement nest egg. As long as I had those two things, I was confident
I could weather most storms that came my way. Then God took away my first
little box, which ultimately resulted in my second little box doing a
disappearing act. It took me losing everything before I could finally realize
that my everything was really nothing. God wasn’t in those boxes. And if that’s
what I was counting on for my peace and security, my hope was empty.
We all walk around with our
little deity cartons. They may be in the shape of our wallet, our job, our
retirement, our marriage, our kids, our church, our friends, our education –
anything that we put our trust in other than God Himself. Problem is every one
of these things can let us down or be taken from us, just ask Job (who lost
everything but at least kept his wife and friends, which is somewhat akin to
saying that Katniss Everdeen lost everything but at least kept President Coin
and the leadership of District 13 [yeah, we’ll score that one Culturally
Relevant Steve – 1 / Middle-Aged, Sore-Jointed, Bifocal-Wearing Father Who’s
Still Mourning Steve Perry’s Departure From Journey Steve – 0]).
In Psalm 20:7, David
writes, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of
the LORD our God.” And when we put our trust in the true God – not the God we
try to stuff in our little boxes – we know we are in safe hands that will never
let us down.
5 comments:
Hi Steve. This blog was well written;(didn't really expect anything less from you though). Sally and I have had to discard a few of our own boxes in the past and now know our True Security. Thank you for the article.
Ray and Sally Chick
Thanks, Ray and Sally. Sure would be nice to be able to learn these lessons without having to walk through the desert, but that doesn't often seem to be the way it works.
You probably screamed and worked your faith on it too. Oh you of little faith! For me the lessons learned, although painful, were worth watching as mine went up in smoke because now I know WHO has control of my retirement and WHAT my security and focus should be on- trying to stay out of the fire-another story.
Mike, it's always good when we finally figure out the "who" and the "what" - it's trying to figure out the "why" that often creates the rub with God. Although, it may be circular process, as the why is usually answered (at least in part) when we finally acquiesce to the who and the what.
Not sure if my previous comment was incredibly wise, or the desperate ravings of a non-caffeinated addict. Since there is no travel mug on my desk, I'm leaning toward the latter.
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