154 Sermon Illustrations on Providence

Question: By what means can I "test" my own feelings and impressions? What are the steps necessary to "prove" the will of God?

The Holy Spirit can communicate with us by impressions, but so can Satan. Godly impressions have four distinguishing features:

1. Scriptural.

They must be in harmony with the Bible - the entire Bible and not just

"proof texts."

2. Right.

Impressions from God may be contrary to our feelings, our prejudices,

and our natural inclinations, but they are always right.

3. Providential.

God will open doors for us and we won't have to hammer them down.

4. Reasonable.

We will not be asked to do absurd and ridiculous things that are

devoid of judgment and common sense.

“I’m sure you must be wondering why God let this happen to YOU.” Friends who visited me in the hospital after I had been seriously injured in an automobile accident said that, or some variant of it, to me many times. “No,” I would respond, “I don’t ask that question. I think it is an exercise in futility.”

“But it is natural to ask that!” some objected, implying that if I were not asking why God let it happen, I ought to be.

My friends were being kind, of course. They were saying, subliminally, “We think you are a good person and God shouldn’t let bad things happen to good people who are trying to serve him – unless, of course, he is bringing about some specially fine result.” They shared the common belief that God only lets GOOD things happen to good (Christian) people, and so eventually we will see that these apparently bad things really turn out to be good.

That is a comforting thought we would all like to embrace. But a realistic reading of the Bible indicates something is lacking in that view of God, the world we live in, and our place as human beings in it.

God has placed us in a world in which moral evil, suffering, and death are universal. All of us will die — Christians and non-Christians — regardless of our devotion to God. All of us have bones that can be broken when they conflict with the laws of gravity, or are damaged by disease. Christians and non-Christians seem equally subject to most of the lethal diseases of this world: cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure. Most of us have wept with Christian parents who have lost a child because of leukemia or an auto accident. Bombs dropped in war on “enemy” cities kill men, women, and children — Christians and non-Christians alike — regardless of whether the bombs are dropped by Christians or non-Christians. Christians share fully the pain and sorrow of this world.

God apparently does not make us more immune than our non-Christian friends. Pain, sorrow, and death are a part of this world of sin. We hurt, we mourn, we struggle with long-term problems that seem to have no answers and no relief.

Yet we intuitively cling to the idea that God is providing us with some special protection from the terrible things that would otherwise happen. Many times I have breathed a fervent “Thank you, Lord,” when we narrowly missed a calamity of some kind. Most of us, if we missed a plane on which we were scheduled and that plane later crashed, would feel that God had miraculously preserved us. But on that fatal flight also may have been a Christian pilot, Christian flight attendants, and many Christian passengers whom God did not choose to deliver. Who of us can ever explain the terrible 1981 private plane wreck in Alaska that took to death the head and founder of a mission board plus three devoted missionaries and a consultant?

“GOOD” IS SOMETIMES STRANGE

Our determination to find “good” reasons for the tragedies of life sometimes leads to strange conclusions. A young man once told me he believed God had let his father die so that he, the son, would be eligible for the social security benefits that permitted him to attend college. I wondered what great benefit God had in mind for his mother and three younger brothers and sisters!

Romans 8:28 teaches, I believe, that God does bring blessings even out of bad situations. But that is quite different from saying that God CAUSES, plans, or even permits tragic happenings BECAUSE of the good that can come out of them. We know that God is sovereign, but we also know that, in his sovereignty, God has placed us in a world of sin and suffering from which we have no immunity.

Jesus was not immune to pain and suffering, nor were his disciples. In the biblical account of the death of John the Baptist, there is no clue as to why God permitted John to be beheaded in a silly display of power by Herod. So far as we know, Jesus did not tell his disciples either that great good would result from it, or that they should “praise the Lord” for the tragedy. He just went away alone to mourn John’s death.

God’s love and concern for John the Baptist, or for us, does not place us in a protected position. After all, God loves my non-Christian neighbor just as much as he loves me. He is just as concerned about the well-being of the pagan as he is about that of the Christian. “The rain falls on the just and on the unjust,” and so do the sunshine, the floods, the good crop years, and the bad crop years. We have no special claim on God’s love or care because we are Christians.

But God does have a special claim on our love because we belong to him through the redemption of Christ. When we commit ourselves to Christ, our attitude toward God changes — not his attitude toward us. His attitude toward us — before we became Christians as well as since — has always been one of loving concern.

SPROUTING WINGS

Lying in my hospital bed after many visits – from people who posed the question, “Why did God let this happen to you?” I tried to imagine a world in which God always delivers “good” people from “bad” things. I thought of my own accident, in which our car was struck by one that went through a red light. In my protected imaginary world, I suppose God would have made the other driver’s car suddenly sprout wings so that it would fly over our car without impacting. Or perhaps God should make it impossible for any driver to go through a red light and hit another car. Maybe God should make cars stop automatically at red lights regardless of the attention of drivers.

In such a God-protected world, brakes would never fail on a car or truck. Airplanes would automatically be free of all defects — mechanical or those of the pilot or weather — especially if there were Christians on board. Christians would suddenly become very popular people if God gave special protection to them. You would want to be sure there was one in every plane, in every car, and, to protect from fire, in every hotel.

When we put it that way, it seems ludicrous, of course. Yet our underlying assumption is that God is supposed to give us some special protection from the unusual dangers and tragedies of life-unless he has some very special blessing in wait that will far outweigh the suffering and pain involved.

After all, does not the Bible say, “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you ... he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:7,11)?

Yes, but in our troubles his angels still have charge, to keep us in all our ways. To keep us from what? From illness, accidents, disappointments, poverty, sorrow, death? Sometimes God does deliver us from these things; sometimes not. But God and his angels always keep us from separation from him. That is the most crucial way we need to be kept.

SHORTCHANGING SIN

To assume that God lets bad things happen so that we can experience greater good is to deny the basic reality of sin and its evil nature. Christ gave his life to deliver us from the ultimate penalty of sin and moral evil. When we say that good will always be the ultimate outcome of any “bad” happening, we are saying that moral evil does not really exist — it only seems that way to our mortal minds.

When an innocent child is murdered (or John the Baptist), that is EVIL. Yes, God can, and often does, bring good results (conversions, family reconciliations, and so on) from such horrible events. But no parent would choose to let his child be cruelly murdered SO THAT these “good things” would result. Friends who have faced tragic losses are not usually comforted by well-meaning friends who tell them that “someday you will understand God’s reasons.”

“VICTORY” AS A HANDICAP

When we face tragedy of any type, we can, and often do, grow through the experience — often after weeks or months of painful mourning and “working through.” Those Christians who feel they must be “victorious” in the face of tragedy usually later go through a normal, painful (sometimes secretive) mourning time. Their desire to be a “testimony” often only delays the mourning and the slow, genuine healing that God can and does bring.

The false belief that God is supposed to protect us from the tragedies and pain common to humanity, or that he “sends” us such tragedies only to “teach something” we need to know or to “bring some great blessing,” may impair our ability to open ourselves to God’s healing.

That false belief was, in part, the problem of Job’s comforters. They said in essence, “God doesn’t let bad things happen to good people. Therefore, Job, you obviously are not really good; there must be some hidden sin in your life, and you must admit it. Otherwise you are impugning Cod.”

Some very profound statements appear in the advice of Job’s friends. The difficulty was that what they said did not apply to Job. Actually, Job had much the same concept of God as his friends had: God was not supposed to let such tragedies as his happen to people who had tried hard to serve and to please him. Job, in his anger and frustration, complained bitterly to God about God’s treatment of him.

In Job 38, God finally intervenes with the words, “who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (38:2), and in chapter 40, “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?” (40:2). Job’s answer was, “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee?” His final response to God was “I have heard thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” (42:5-6).

According to the biblical account, Job never did learn why God permitted him to suffer so deeply and so long. (The reader knows that the suffering was due to Satan, to the presence of evil.) No particular “good” came out of it except Job’s deep encounter with God, and the marvelous account of it that is part of our Old Testament. At the end of the story, God gives Job double what he had before; but that was simply the grace of God and not directly related to his previous losses or his long suffering. I am sure Job never stopped mourning for his first seven sons and three daughters who died in the violent storm that struck their home.

Perhaps the real point of the Book of Job is not to answer the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” but rather to answer, “How does a person of faith respond to the tragedies and joys that come in life?” (Job had already been tested by the joys of success.) Does our trust and confidence in God grow, or is it destroyed? Do we reach more deeply into fellowship with God? Do we gain more appreciation for those who help us or those whom we can help? Do we use the changed circumstances or changed relationships to serve God and to grow?

RESTING IN THE ARMS OF JESUS

In the worst days following my accident, I had no energy to ponder deep questions or to think about the “good” that could come out of it. I had hardly strength to smile and converse a little with family members who came in for short visits. But I found it required no energy at all simply to rest in the arms of Jesus and experience his healing presence. Moving in and out of half-consciousness, I knew I was not alone. Cards with the simple message “we are praying for you” took on great significance, for I had no energy to pray more than, “Let your healing power flow through these broken bones.” Supported by the prayers of friends, I felt no need to do more.

Our periods of helplessness may make us more sensitive to the needs of others, or they may make us bitter or depressed. We may become more conscious of our need of God and more conscious of his presence, or we may become angry with God.

DONE IN BY SUCCESS

Our response to the good and bad happenings of our lives will largely determine whether we grow or deteriorate in them. Actually, people are as apt to be destroyed or damaged by good happenings as by bad — by fame, success, beauty, outstanding talents. These have sometimes led to inner poverty, insufferable ego, misery for family and friends, even suicide. Yet we rarely ask, “Why did God let those ‘good’ things or these ‘blessings’ come to this person?”

God gives us the capacity to respond to the ills and joys of life in ways that are constructive or destructive. Whether we respond negatively or positively, God’s love remains constant. He does not withdraw it because we respond badly. His presence is always there, whether or not we recognize it.

Why did God let that accident happen to me? I do not know, nor do I feel a need to ask. What I did need, and still need, God gave me: a deep and abiding sense of his presence. And I am content with the words of Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

God has revealed in his Word a great deal about what I should do — far more than enough to consume my energy and mental capacity. The secret things I will leave to him.

________

Alvera Mickelson is Assistant Professor of Journalism at Bethel College, St. Paul, Minnesota. She and her husband, Berkeley, co-authored the two-volume, “Family Bible Encyclopedia” (Cook, 1978).

Americans are addicted to health. Michael Ignatieff in “Modern Dying” in The New Republic deplores the reduction of the idea of the human good to the glow of physical well-being. There is an “ideology of health.” It is related to the idea that we are the master of our fates, and illness is due to bad thinking. The conquest of so much disease makes illness seem a moral failing. Death seems to be unjust.

Ignatieff recommends “an ethic of ironic struggle” – not too much struggle, and an acceptance of biological fate. “He does not mean that you must go gently quiet into that good night … but do not rage against the dying of the light because no amount of maintenance can prevent the dying.” Health should be nurtured but not hoarded.

#592 [see #593/titles]

*

God sends blessings, but many times we don’t want to recognize them. Example of a family in our church (permission given):

Their finances were incredibly tight before Thanksgiving even rolled around. Lo and behold, a change in insurance plans gave them an unexpected $300 rebate. Then their loan company told them they wouldn’t have to make a payment in December, which saved $345.

Dawn was thrilled — this was evidence of God! But Joe was still depressed because the unexpected money had to cover existing bills and debt. They didn’t even have gas money to drive to the Delaware Water Gap for a picnic. Dawn, being the sensible one, suggested they go around the corner to Waterloo Village, a historical park. There was no fee that day, and they walked all around enjoying the scenery.

Don’t focus on what you don’t have. Look at the blessings, and make the most of them. As Dawn concluded, these experiences are leading us to a higher level of faith.

________

Joe & Dawn Brady

Hackettstown, New Jersey

Bob Mumford, in “Take Another Look at Guidance,” compares discovering God’s will with a sea captain’s docking procedure:

A certain harbor in Italy can be reached only by sailing up a narrow channel between dangerous rocks and shoals. Over the years, many ships have been wrecked, and navigation is hazardous.

To guide the ships safely into port, three lights have been mounted on three huge poles in the harbor. Then the three lights are perfectly lined up and seen as one, the ship can safely proceed up the narrow channel. If the pilot sees two or three lights, he knows he’s off course and in danger.

God has also provided three beacons to guide us. The same rules of navigation apply – the three lights must be lined up before it is safe for us to proceed. The three lights of guidance are:

1. The Word of God (objective standard) [the written as the testimony to the Living Word]

2. The Holy Spirit (subjective witness) [illuminating the written, testifying to the Living, Word]

3. Circumstances (Divine providence) [Philippians 2:13]

Together they assure us that the directions we’ve received are from God and will lead us safely along his way.

After Abraham Lincoln was elected President he gave a short farewell to the people of Springfield, Illinois, before leaving for Washington. He said:

“My friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good - let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.”

-----------------

According to a stenographer whose version appeared in the press the next morning, Lincoln began a good deal more awkwardly:

“No one who has never been placed in a like position, can understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. For more than a quarter of a century, I have lived among you, and during all that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here I have lived from my youth until now I am an old man.... To Him I commend you all - permit me to ask that with equal security and faith, you will all invoke His wisdom and guidance for me. With these few words I must leave you - for how long I know not. Friends, one and all, I must now bid you an affectionate farewell.”

(“I Should Not Say Foolish Things, by Harold Holzer, Civil War Times, Nov/Dec 1995, p. 109.)

Conrad Manalansan still remembers the first time his mother met Southern Baptist missionary Jack Branan. Conrad was 7 years old. Life could not have been worse. His father had broken off contact with his mother. As a “second wife,” she was left with nothing. She moved her son, his sister and herself to a cheap, one-room basement apartment. His sister got out: she eloped.

Conrad and his mother tried to make ends meet by selling tomatoes or garlic or whatever they could get from a wagon outside the market. In a short time they were two months behind on their rent, their rice was gone and they were about to be forced onto the street.

“It's all right. God will provide,” the young boy told his mother, repeating the lesson he had heard from Rosanne Branan, Jack's wife, the times he wandered into her Sunday school room. The suggestion enraged her. “There is no God,” she screamed. “For others there may be God, but there is no God for us.” A few minutes later Branan, from Culloden, Ga., knocked on the door. He had visited Conrad before, but each time the boy's mother had hidden. This time she faced him. He explained quietly, “God has been speaking to me and told me to give you this.” He handed her a 100 peso bill.

That was 25 years ago. Life did get better, but by no means did it ever get easy. Every day they struggled to pay for food and rent. One low point came after they had been living with his uncle; he kicked them out because they wouldn't attend services of a Christian sect he became involved with. Conrad continued to help his mother as well as complete high school. Through it all he kept what he refers to today as his “simple faith,” trusting that God would provide. Each time, he says, God came through.

Today he's among the “heroes of the faith” in the Philippines, according to Branan, a career church planter in Manila. Their families remained close as Conrad and one of Branan's sons grew up as friends. His mother eventually got a job as a Tagalog-language teacher and began attending a small Baptist church. When that job ended, she became a day care director as well as a key leader in the congregation. In 1979 that church started a mission. Manalansan and his mother found themselves leading weekly prayer meetings.

The mission enjoyed a series of strong pastors. When the last left and the church was having difficulty attracting a replacement, Manalansan was confronted with a decision. By that time he had been graduated with honors from high school and was well into college. He knew the Bible. He felt prepared to assume the pastoral role. His mother encouraged him to do so. But he kept backing off. A lifetime in the midst of poverty made him yearn for something different. “I was reluctant to be a pastor. I wanted to serve the Lord, but I wanted to make money. Pastors here don't make a lot of money,” he says.

Reluctantly he agreed to lead the church on a temporary, volunteer basis. His stint went on for two years. Meanwhile he finished school and was working as a public school teacher, a job he found satisfying except for the low pay. He considered giving up preaching to make some extra money, but he had discovered “God gave him blessings” through his work with the church. “Personally I entered a covenant with God,” he explains. “I told God that if he gave me a job sufficient for my everyday needs, I would continue to serve him without salary.”

On his 22nd birthday in 1987 he resigned his teaching post, sifted through the help wanted section of the Sunday newspaper and applied for a sales job with an international pharmaceutical company. The advertisement attracted 800 applicants. Many had medical experience. Most had sales experience. Manalansan had neither, but after eight interviews and two tests, he was one of the men offered the relatively high-paying position. “That was when God lifted me up,” he says. “I knew I didn't get the job on my own, but through prayers.”

Manalansan has enjoyed his success. For the first time in his life he has insurance to take care of himself and his mother, now 72, who continues to live with him. They both live in a house he bought next door to the one his uncle kicked him out of years before. He has a car. But despite the pressures of maintaining his business, he has kept his word. Every week he leads the service at Lord Side Baptist Church. Looking back over the 30 years of his life thus far he's still somewhat incredulous. “My whole life is a miracle,” he says. “After all, most of the kids I was selling tomatoes with are still selling tomatoes. The Lord has been good.”

Copyright (c) 1995 Baptist Press

RNbp5526mrwB5526e5530

Version for sermons:

Conrad Manalansan lived in the Philippines. He was 7 years old. And very poor. His father had broken off contact with his mother. As a “second wife,” she was left with nothing. She moved her son, his sister and herself to a cheap, one-room basement apartment. His sister got out: she eloped.

Conrad and his mother tried to make ends meet by selling tomatoes or garlic or whatever they could get from a wagon outside the market. In a short time they were two months behind on their rent, their rice was gone and they were about to be forced onto the street.

“It's all right. God will provide,” the young boy told his mother. Conrad was repeating the lesson he had heard from Baptist missionaries in a Sunday School class. The suggestion enraged his mother. “There is no God,” she screamed. “For others there may be God, but there is no God for us.”

A few minutes later the Baptist missionary knocked on their door. He had visited Conrad before, but each time the boy's mother had hidden. This time she faced him. He explained quietly, “God has been speaking to me and told me to give you this.” He handed her a 100 peso bill.

That was 25 years ago. Both Conrad and his mother became Christians. Their life never got easy, but it did get better. Through it all Conrad kept what he refers to today as his “simple faith,” trusting that God would provide. Each time, he says, God came through.

Today he is a “hero of the faith” is his local church, and his mother leads a prayer meeting.

A discussion on finding out God's will for your life.

I. Old idea - God has a plan for us, we need to discover it.

A. Gideon's fleece. Judges 6 & 7

1) His guidance was clear but he doubted it.

B. Paul's Macedonian call. Acts 16:6-10

1) Paul was surprised by it, not seeking it.

2) An aberration from normal experience.

II. Rational guidance.

A. Use resources like Bible, inner prompting of Spirit,

external circumsances.

B. Idea that God has an "individual plan" is sometimes disputed.

1) Bible reveals God's moral will.

2) We are free for details.

III. Dissatisfaction with both approaches.

A. They leave basic questions unanswered:

1) God's sovereignty.

2) God's readiness to impinge on human affairs.

B. Rather than focusing on how we can choose, it is better to

ask how an infinite God can guide finite human beings.

IV. Lady Helen Oppenheimer's approach on divine guidance.

A. We ask some people's support for the decision we are already

leaning toward.

1) But asking God for his stamp of approval is blasphemy.

B. We go to some people because we truly want to be told what

to do.

1) Core of guidance issue: Why doesn't God just flat-out

tell us what to do?

2) Maybe such a response would jeopardize human freedom.

a) God does not want to run our lives but have us offer

our lives in obedience to Him.

C. Sometimes we simply want a chance to think aloud. (Rogerian)

1) But "one cannot go on forever being grateful for silence."

V. Guidance and God's Omniscience.

A. Problem: If we go to God in line with #2, he could give us

perfect advice. We would not need faith.

B. C.S. Lewis hints at God's hesitance to intervene directly:

"God seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly

delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly

and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the

twinkling of an eye .... Perhaps we do not fully realize

the problem, so to call it, of enabling finite free wills

to coexist with Omnipotence. It seems to involve at every

moment almost a sort of 'divine abdication.'"

C. Problems with Oppenheimer's three models:

1) God is the other party. He can't be a rubber stamp or

a passive listener.

2) God doesn't want to "tell us what to do."

a) (There are exceptions, like Gideon)

VI. Does God guide?

A. Guidance should be thought of as relationship rather than

technique.

1) Comparison with marriage.

2) The fact of communication is as important as the content.

B. The Bible contains very little specific advice on the

techiques of guidance, but much on the proper way to

maintain a love relationship with God.

1) The Psalms and guidance.

2) They act as spiritual journals, ranging from triumph to

despair and pleading.

VII. Not magic, but faith.

A. "How-to's" are misdirected.

1) Americans want shortcuts.

2) God offers a lifetime of intimacy.

B. God usually guides in subtle ways.

1) He feeds ideas in our minds.

2) He gives us a sensation of dissatisfaction.

3) He wants us to take him seriously.

C. Guidance is overrated.

1) The Bible doesn't devote much to it.

2) Distinction between magic and religion (Malinowski):

"Magic is when we manipulate the deities so that they

perform our wishes; religion is when we subject

ourselves to the will of the deities."

3) True guidance must be religion and not magic.

When Southern Baptist evangelist Richard Coss returns to his home church Monday morning, April 24, it won't be a happy occasion. The former staff prison minister of First Southern Baptist of suburban Del City will be preaching the funeral of his two grandchildren. Chase Smith, 3, and his 2-year-old brother, Colton, were killed in the bomb blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Their parents' grief will be closely felt by the congregation, where Edye Smith and her brother, Danny, both grew up. Coss said the family has printed 900 copies of the obituary to distribute to relatives and friends.

"People have asked me if I can preach my grandson's funeral; I know I can," said Coss, who lives in Gulf Shores, Alabama. "I want to preach it because I knew them. I'll probably cry through it but I'll make it."

Chase and Colton Smith were a pair of happy, blonde-headed boys. Their father, Tony, had started his own heating and air conditioning business a year ago, while Edye has worked for the Internal Revenue Service for three years.

In a crash of emotions, the family went from a tremendous high to the worst low in one day. The day before the boys died, the Smiths had taken them to show them the two-bedroom brick house they had just closed on and would soon become their new home.

Richard Coss was conducting a citywide revival near Topeka, Kan., when the horrible news flashed on television Wednesday. He shook his head in disbelief, thinking maybe there was another federal building that had been hit. Not only did Edye work nearby, so did his daughter-in-law, Kathy, a federal parole officer.

Danny Coss, 28, is a police officer in the suburb of Yukon. All of that city's force was dispatched to the crime scene. During his search of the rubble, Danny found one of his nephews. Though a Marine Corps veteran and a police officer, he told his father, "It's the worst thing I've ever seen. I don't ever want to do it again. I don't want to talk about it again."

"Everybody's kids are neat, but they were happy, little comedians and so photogenic," said Richard. "They had been down to see us recently and I had grandfather plans for them. I hunt and camp and I was looking forward to taking them camping and hiking. You think you've cried all you can and then you see a picture or something... ."

Although he buried his parents and some friends and preached many funerals because of his work, Coss said this is the hardest thing he has ever faced. His faith has been crucial in helping him through the tragedy, he said, as well as the Lord's message that came in prayer, "Be strong for the family." His wife, Phyllis, also flew in on the first available flight, and they have been shopping, running errands and making sure there's enough food on hand for the steady stream of visitors at the Smiths' home. He also counseled his daughter and son-in-law to look at the boys' picture, talk about them and cry.

"She breaks down every time," he said, including an appearance on NBC's "Today Show" Friday, April 21. "But she's getting it out."

Coss said he hasn't grasped God's providence in the situation and hasn't even tried. But the words of Romans 8:28 -- "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (NIV) -- have been particularly helpful.

God is sovereign and has a plan, the evangelist said. While he doesn't understand it at the moment, he said he knows somehow good will emerge from the situation. Talking about how his children grew up in the country, away from crime and drugs, he said the Lord may have spared Chase and Colton from some of the grief the survivors must face before Jesus returns. "If Romans 8:28 were the only verse we had in the Bible, we could work through all our problems in life if we believed it," Coss said. "John 14:27 is another good one: 'Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you, I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.' Jesus has promised us peace."

In his prayers, he has asked God to comfort the mothers of the children who were killed in the blast, which he said looked more like a plane dropped a bomb on the building than ground-level destruction. He's also tried to "just be there" to listen, and many grieving residents have taken advantage of his offer.

On the positive side, this catastrophe has driven many people into churches of all denominations, he said, listing Methodist, Southern Baptist, Assembly of God and Mennonite. Come Sunday, most will be packed; many people have already sought comfort in nightly prayer services, according to Coss.

The Southern Baptist Brotherhood's presence has also been felt. The evangelist visited their emergency feeding operation on Thursday night, when the rescue unit served 800 meals in downtown Oklahoma City.

"It's sad that people wait for a tragedy but it's brought a lot of people together," he said. "The outpouring has been tremendous. The boys' funeral expenses have already been taken care of; people and companies have been donating cash to help the kids. Calls have been coming from all over the country, flowers are coming, food is coming. It's been tremendous."

Coss said he knows the days just ahead won't be easy to get through, but he will try to maintain an optimistic outlook. As he told his daughter, who turned 23 on Friday, "I'm sure there will be better birthdays."

In the movie “Hanoi Hilton” Major Fischer [probably a composite figure] came to the realization that no matter what happens to us, we can be conquerors.

Two of his men were caught trying to escape. As commanding officer, Fischer was sentenced to death. As he waited for his execution, he tapped out on the wall:

“None of the men here are ordinary. They are the bravest of the

brave, people who go on even when deserted by friends and

countrymen. What they carry inside them is the spirit that makes

all human beings unique, makes them heroic.”

[Only the death of Ho Chi Minh cancelled his execution.]

In "The Peter Principle," Stan Toler writes:

I was a church planter at one time and felt impressed by the Lord to send $50 to some missionaries. When I shared with my wife what had been laid on my heart, we took a look at our checkbook and found $54 in our balance. Not much room for error there. She said, "Honey, I wasn't raised quite like you, but I trust you and have faith in your stewardship commitments. Let's do it." So I wrote the check and sent it to the Carters in Arizona, who were ministering to Native Americans in a small reservation village. Even though I knew it had been the right thing to do, I did begin to wonder how we were going to manage.

The next day I went to the post office, and amazed I picked up a letter from a student at Asbury Theological Seminary who had been one of my roommates at college. The letter read, "I just had you and Linda on my heart and felt impressed to write you. I'm enclosing a check for you, knowing you will probably put it in the offering plate next Sunday, but it is not for your church. It is for you." Fifty bucks!

When the check we sent arrived in Arizona, Doug Carter called immediately. "Stan, your check just arrived. What timing! We had an appointment with the doctor for our daughter, Angie, but we had no money to pay the bill. I was just about to make the dreaded phone call to tell the doctor, but I paused to look at the mail first, and there it was. The Lord was right on schedule, wasn't he?"

How could God touch a poor church planter on the shoulder and say, "Send $50 to missionaries in Arizona," even though he knew the church planter needed it, and at the same time touch a student at Asbury Theological Seminary on the shoulder and say to him, "Send $50 to the Tolers"? A cynical person might ask, "Why didn't God just impress the Asbury student to send his $50 directly to the missionaries in Arizona?"

To the first question I say, that's how God works. To the second I suggest that God wanted to pour out his blessings on three families instead of two.

--management guru Tom Peters

(Despair, Hope)

Copyright(c) 1998 by the author or Christianity Today, Inc./Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or e-mail LeaderJ@aol.com.

Fall 1998, Vol.XIX, No. 4, Page 67

*

C.S. Lewis, in A GRIEF OBSERVED, writes after the death of his wife to cancer: "When you're happy, so happy that you don't have any sense of needing God, if you turn to him with praise you'll be welcomed with open arms. But go to him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, a sound of bolting and double-bolting on the inside and after that, silence. You may as well turn away."

Philip Yancey (Christian writer) received a letter from "Meg"--wife of a preacher; 2 children--both with cystic fibrosis. She had to pound on chests daily so they could breathe. Spent weeks in hospitals, coughing all day/night. Joey died at 12; Peggy at 23 .....

Meg described the death of Peggy and how much the nurses loved her and would have given one of their lungs if they could have. They couldn't. Powerless before death.

LETTER: "So it is against this background of human beings falling apart because they couldn't do more to help that God who COULD have helped looked down on a young woman devoted to him and decided to sit on his hands and let her death top the horror charts for cystic fibrosis deaths. I tell you Philip, it does not help to talk of the good that results from pain, nor does it help to talk of God almost always letting the physical process of disease run its course, because if he EVER intervenes then at the point of every human suffering he makes a decision to intervene or not to intervene. And in Peggy's case it was his choice to let cystic fibrosis rip. Again I wonder, how could he be in a situation like that and sit on his hands?"

Contrary to what might be expected, I look back on experiences that at the time seemed especially desolating and painful with particular satisfaction. Indeed, I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my seventy-five years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my existence, has been through affliction and not through happiness, whether pursued or attained. In other words, if it ever were to be possible to eliminate affliction from our earthly existence by means of some drug or other medical mumbo jumbo ... the results would not be to make life delectable, but to make it too banal and trivial to be endurable. This, of course, is what the Cross signifies. And it is the Cross, more than anything else, that has called me inexorably to Christ. -- Malcolm Muggeridge

GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL HAND

Esther 4:14

INTRODUCTION:

1. Without a doubt, one of the most difficult areas of study is the subject

of divine providence.

a) A study of providence almost invariably turns to the realm of

emotionalism, and for this reason I have avoided the subject of

providence for most of my life.

b) Another reason to avoid the subject is because it appears that the

more I learn about providence, the more I realize I don't know.

2. However, I am convinced that one cannot believe in God and His word

without believing in the providence of God.

a) Providence is God's foresight and unceasing care for His people, as He

has promised.

b) It is God providing for His children through natural means.

3. There are so many differing views on this subject.

a) The atheist denies God's existence, and would therefore deny

providence, leaving everything that happens to chance or luck.

b) But some believe that God exists, yet they do not believe that He acts

on behalf of His children.

1) They believe He created the world, including the natural laws of

the universe, but then He retired.

2) They believe He will return someday to see how everything turned

out. Again, they are leaving everything to chance or luck.

c. Then there are those who believe God makes everything happen.

1) There is no freewill involved in their minds.

2) They even believe that the very minute of one's death is

predetermined by God.

d. What these three groups of people have in common is a denial that God

is engaged in providing providentially for His children today.

4. What I want to do in this lesson is to help us learn what providence is

and isn't, so that we are better able to yield to God's will. He

won't force you to do His will, but He will provide you with the

opportunity.

DISCUSSION:

I. Let's Start With What Providence IS NOT.

A. Providence is not a miracle.

1. Tragically, many are unable to distinguish the providential from

the miraculous.

a) Many believe that if God did something it was in some way

supernatural, and so they say that if we contend that

miracles don't occur today then we should just forget

about praying.

b) For example: Many believe that if you pray for rain and it

occurs naturally then you just wasted your breath,

because it was going to rain anyway. However, they say

if God intervened in answer to prayer then it was a

miracle.

2. What we need to understand is that the fact of God's working is

not our question.

a) Denying that miracles occur according to 1 Corinthians 13:8-13

is in no way a denial of Divine intervention.

b) David Lipscomb wrote: "God's laws define the channels through

which His providence flows, that man by placing himself

in these channels may receive His providential blessings"

(Gospel Advocate, May 24, 1900).

c) And so we're saying that the difference between God acting

miraculously or His acting providentially is in method

not in the fact of His intervention.

B. A miracle is an event that is above natural law, and therefore not

subject to, or explained by, the laws of nature.

1. A good example of this would be human life. Human life comes from

human life.

a) Even the "cloning" which is supposed to be in the near future

comes ultimately from pre-existing natural life.

b) But Adam and Eve didn't come into existence this way (Genesis

1:27; 2:7), therefore it was a miracle.

2. If you remember the case of Hannah praying for God to give her a

son then you know that the Bible says Elkanah, her husband,

"KNEW" her, the Lord remembered her, and she conceived (1

Samuel 1:19-20).

a) In answer to her prayer, God providentially, through natural

reproductive laws, blessed her with a son.

b) God intervened to provide her answer to prayer.

3. Another good example is found in Elijah.

a) James uses Elijah to show that "THE EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER

OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN AVAILETH MUCH" (James 5:16).

b) He tells us that by the prayers of Elijah it did not rain for

three and one half years (James 5:17).

c) Then Elijah prayed again and it rained (James 5:18), but was

it miraculous or providential?

d) In 1 Kings 18:45 we read: "AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MEAN

WHILE, THAT THE HEAVEN WAS BLACK WITH CLOUDS AND THE

WIND, AND THERE WAS GREAT RAIN."

e) It rains when the clouds are black today. God providentially,

by the natural order of things, provided rain.

4. Though we don't always understand how God answers prayer, that

doesn't mean we have to depend upon a miracle, luck, chance,

accident or coincidence.

II. Let's Look At Some Biblical Examples Of Providence.

a. A good beginning would be in Daniel 2 where king Nebuchadnezzar had a

dream that contained a great image.

1. The king couldn't remember the dream, and so his wise men could

not interpret it.

a) By the power of God, Daniel was shown the dream and the

interpretation (Daniel 2:23).

b) The image had a head of gold, which represented the kingdom of

Babylon (Daniel 2:38).

c) The breast and arms of the image were silver, representing the

Medo-Persian empire, which overthrew Babylon.

d) The belly and thighs on the image were brass, representing the

Greeks, who were the next world power.

e) And the legs and feet were iron and clay, representing the

Roman empire.

2. We know, based upon the inspired interpretation given by Daniel,

that the future was being revealed (Daniel 2:29).

a) Four prominent world powers would exist, one after the other,

and then during the fourth kingdom, Rome, God would

establish His kingdom, the church (Daniel 2:44).

b) What many people don't realize is that God providentially used

these kingdoms in bringing about the "FULLNESS OF TIME"

(Galatians 4:4), when the Messiah would come and make the

spread of the Gospel, and therefore the church of Christ

possible.

c) The Babylonian kingdom provided for the establishment of the

Jewish synagogues.

1) These played an important role during the personal

ministry of Christ as well as the fulfillment of the

Great Commission by the apostles and early

Christians.

2) It provided a gathering place to preach the Gospel.

d) The Medo-Persian empire provided a system of law and order.

This continued and through this system men like Paul were

protected by the law to a great extent while they

preached.

e) The empire of the Greeks provided a universal language. This

is the language of the New Testament, a language that is

very descriptive as well as having a permanence, it

doesn't change.

f) And the Roman empire provided many key ingredients: good

roads, free customs, and freedom of travel and

communication.

g) All of these made the Great Commission easier to fulfill.

3. God intervened providentially throughout time to care for His

people.

b. Another great example is the account of Esther.

1. You remember Esther, the young Jewish girl who became queen.

2. During her time as queen, a law was enacted to destroy all Jews,

presented by the wicked Haman.

3. Esther had hidden her identity as a Jew from her husband, the

king.

4. But Mordecai approached her with the question that is behind this

sermon: "FOR IF THOU ALTOGETHER HOLDEST THY PEACE AT THIS

TIME, THEN SHALL THERE ENLARGEMENT AND DELIVERANCE ARISE TO

THE JEWS FROM ANOTHER PLACE; BUT THOU AND THY FATHER'S HOUSE

SHALL BE DESTROYED: AND WHO KNOWETH WHETHER THOU ART COME TO

THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?" (Esther 4:14).

a) Mordecai is saying that God was going to providentially

deliver His people.

b) However, Esther should look around and see how God had

providentially intervened in her life in order to use her

for that task.

5. And so she accepts the advice of Mordecai, and God providentially

makes the rest of the events fit together to provide

deliverance to the Jews.

C. And there are numerous other examples that we could look at to see

God's providence, if time allowed:

1. Joseph's slavery in Egypt.

2. Moses being raised in Pharaoh's house for 40 years then spending

40 years tending sheep in the wilderness.

3. Philip meeting the Eunuch at just the right place and just the

right time, even though he had to leave before the Eunuch

left in order to meet him.

4. And there are numerous others.

III. What Does All This Mean To Us?

a. Knowing that God providentially cares for His people teaches us to

learn to trust Him.

1. What we need is a greater faith in the great and precious promises

that His divine power has given us (2 Pet 1:3-4).

2. We should be like Abraham who "STAGGERED NOT AT THE PROMISE OF GOD

THROUGH UNBELIEF; BUT WAS STRONG IN FAITH, GIVING GLORY TO

GOD; AND BEING FULLY PERSUADED THAT, WHAT HE HAD PROMISED, HE

WAS ABLE ALSO TO PERFORM" (Romans 4:20-21).

3. God has promised to provide a way of escape from temptation (1

Corinthians 10:13), and we should seek it.

4. God has promised to provide for our needs (Matthew 6:25-33), if we

seek His will first in our lives.

5. And God has promised a home in heaven for the faithful (2 Timothy

4:8).

b. Obviously, God is concerned with our lives.

1. He offers providential care and help to us as His children.

2. That means He cares for me.

CONCLUSION:

1. We sing a song that says "Be not dismayed what e're betide, God will take

care of you."

a. When we sing that song we're saying that we know we can depend on God.

b. We're saying that we know that God knows what is best.

2. But, let me offer a couple of words of caution.

a. First, if you are going to depend upon God, you might find yourself

going places and doing things that aren't necessarily

comfortable.

b. Second, God won't make you allow Him to use you, you have to submit to

His will.

*

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him and every day he scanned the horizon for help but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons grace of God. For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has a positive answer for it:

You say: "It's impossible"

God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27)

You say: "I'm too tired"

God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)

You say: "Nobody really loves me"

God says: I love you (John 3:16 & John 13:34)

You say: "I can't go on"

God says: My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)

You say: "I can't figure things out"

God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: "I can't do it"

God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)

You say: "I'm not able"

God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: "It's not worth it"

God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28)

You say: "I can't forgive myself"

God says: I FORGIVE YOU (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: "I can't manage"

God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)

You say: "I'm afraid"

God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)

You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated"

God says: Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5:7)

You say: "I don't have enough faith"

God says: I've given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)

You say: "I'm not smart enough"

God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: "I feel all alone"

God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)

*

The will of God will never take you,

Where the grace of God cannot keep you,

Where the arms of God cannot support you,

Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,

Where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you,

Where the Spirit of God cannot work through you,

Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,

Where the army of God cannot protect you,

Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you,

Where the love of God cannot enfold you,

Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,

Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,

Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you,

Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,

Where the Word of God cannot feed you,

Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,

Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

Everything happens for a purpose.

We may not see the wisdom of it all now.

But trust and believe in the Lord that everything is for the best.

Rev. Ray Stedman received a letter from two of his church's missionaries in Guatemala, Ron and Gretchen Bruno. Gretchen wrote of an incident that had encouraged her greatly. A poor widow in one of the congregations in Guatemala was down to her last twenty cents and without food. She began to pray about her problem. As she was praying, she felt a deep conviction that God was telling her to go to the large supermarket in town. She was to fill up several carts with groceries and take them to checkout stand #7. This was not just a vague feeling on her part but a deep, Spirit-born conviction.

The widow went to the supermarket the next morning, loaded enough groceries into carts to last two or three months, and took them to checkout stand #7. Just as she got there the cashier closed the stand to go out to lunch. The cashier suggested that the woman take her groceries to another stand, but the woman said, "No, I cannot. My Father told me to take these through checkout stand #7."

So she waited while the clerk went to lunch and came back again. The clerk was surprised to see the woman still there, and started to check out her groceries. Just then an announcement came over the loudspeaker: "This is our seventh year of business. "We are pleased to announce that whoever is checking out at checkout stand #7 gets free groceries."

One of the classic baseball television shots comes from the 1975 World Series, in which NBC captured Carlton Fisk, jumping up and down, waving his arms, trying to coax his hit to stay fair. It did - for a home run. That colorful close-up would have been missed had the cameraman followed the ball with his camera, as was his responsibility. But the cameraman inside Fenway Park scoreboard had one eye on a rat that was circling him. So instead of focusing the camera on the ball, he left it on Fisk.

Sometimes we encounter problems like that rat. We have no idea how they will be resolved, but because of them, we may see God work in a way we never would have without the problems.

(Written by Richard C. Kauffman, Jr., Tionesta, PA)

At a national meeting of evangelical theologians and biblical scholars with the theme of eschatology, one might expect familiar intramural debates on the timing of the Rapture or the nature of the Millennium.

Instead, the 51st annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society also included controversy over such questions as whether God knows the future and whether faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. Two Baptist theologians, Bruce Ware and Clark Pinnock, stood on opposing sides of the ever-widening chasm among evangelicals on what many believe were once considered unassailable Christian doctrines of God and the gospel.

ETS, founded in 1949, is the national organization for theologians and biblical scholars who hold to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.

Bruce Ware, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., presented a paper which vigorously challenged the increasingly popular "openness of God" theology which argues God does not have foreknowledge of future events and sometimes repents of actions he has taken. The "openness" view has been articulated by theologians such as Pinnock and John Sanders, both of whom were present for Ware's presentation. Sanders is professor of philosophy and religion at Huntington College in Huntington, Indiana, and has written a book, "The God Who Risks: A Theology of Providence" which outlines an openness view of God.

The 1999 Southern Baptist Convention in Atlanta passed a resolution repudiating the "openness" view of God and affirming instead God's infinite wisdom, power, and knowledge.

Ware argued the open view of God is a heretical notion which cannot guarantee the Bible's assurance that God's purposes will prevail in the end. He cited the writings of openness theologians who claim that God was "surprised" by the fall of Adam, that God was mistaken in the severity of His judgment in the Noahic Flood, and that Jesus "negotiated" the Cross with the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. The openness view renders prayer meaningless and devastates Christian hope because with it the believer is always in doubt as to whether "God's perspective is best and whether His will should be followed."

"If God is not sure what He does is best, can we be sure that He really knows what He is doing?" Ware asked. "The simple fact is that a God who can only speculate regarding what much of the future holds, at times second-guesses His own plans, can get things wrong, can falsely anticipate what may happen next, and may even repent of His own past conduct is a God unworthy of devotion, trust, adoration, and praise."

Ware countered openness theologians' assertions that their view preserves the personal, interactive relationship that God has with His creation. By trading "God-as-Lord-over-life" for "God-as-friend-through-life," openness thinkers have done away with the Bible's promises that God not only knows what is best for believers, but that He will triumph in the end over every evil rival to His rule. The traditional view of God, Ware argued, does not negate His responsive care for His creatures.

"Many Christians have sung 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus' along with 'Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise' with no conflict and, in fact, with mutual reinforcement," Ware said. "No loss of friendship and nearness of God is necessary when affirming His sovereign rulership over creation since the God of the Bible is both."

Ware said in the historic view held for centuries by both Calvinists and Arminians, God's promises of His final triumph "are not guesses, projections, probabilities, speculations," but stand as "God's inviolable and certain word."

Pinnock, professor of theology at the Canadian Baptist McMaster Divinity School in Ontario and a chief proponent of the openness model, presented a paper calling for a "more inclusive" evangelical understanding of the last things which includes the salvation of many who never come to faith in Christ. Calling himself a "universal opportunity person" rather than a universalist, Pinnock said "God has more than one covenant and more than one people."

Pinnock, who in the 1960s was a conservative professor at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a critic of the then-moderate SBC leadership, underwent a theological transformation in the 1980s which led to highly unorthodox understanding of such doctrines as biblical inspiration, God's foreknowledge, and the nature of hell.

Speaking of "various paths to Jesus Christ," Pinnock said that "for Jesus, saving faith is not only remotely possible to pagans but is operative among them" since "many already belong to the kingdom of God." Rejecting the doctrine of justification through faith alone, Pinnock said God's standard of judgment is the individual's "participation in Christ's loving way of life which manifests itself in the service of others."

"Not everyone can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ because many have not been reached by the proclamation," Pinnock said. "In their case what counts is whether their conduct agrees with the will of God as Jesus explained it." Pinnock said the Bible implied that some of the men of Sodom will be in heaven.

During the question and answer session, Ware told Pinnock his view contradicted numerous biblical passages, including Jesus' command in Luke 24:47 that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached "in His name among all nations." Pinnock replied that such explicit faith and repentance would not be necessary for those who are "geographically B.C." where Christ has not yet been named.

"But that's exactly who He's talking about," Ware countered. "The nations ... where Christ had not yet been named."

Have you ever had one of those day, weeks, months, even years when you felt like nothing was going right? If you have, let me tell you about some people in which things really turned out bad.

In 1983, in Naples, Italy, 45-year-old Vittorio Luise's car was blow into a river by a fierce gust of wind. He managed to break out a window, climb out and swim to shore. When he got to shore, the wind blew over a tree that fell on him and killed him.

In 1983, 31-year-old Mike Stewart of Dallas, was filming a movie on the dangers of low-level bridges when the truck he was standing on passed under a low-level bridge, killing him. In 1983, George Schwartz, owner of a factory in Providence, R.I., narrowly escaped death when a blast flattened his factory except for one wall. After treatment for minor injuries, he returned to search for files. The remaining wall collapsed on him, killing him.

In 1981, 42-year-old Romolo Ribolla of Pisa, Italy, sat in his kitchen, with a gun in his hand, threatening to kill himself. His wife pleaded for him not to do it, and after about an hour, he burst into tears and threw the gun to the floor. The gun went off and killed his wife.

In 1977, a man hit by a car in New York got up uninjured, but lay back down in front of the car when a bystander told him to pretend he was hurt so he could collect insurance money. The car rolled forward and crushed him to death.

Surprised while burgling a house in Antwerp, Belgium, a thief fled out of the back door, clambered over a nine-foot wall, dropped down and found himself in the city prison.

In 1976, 22-year-old Irishman, Bob Finnegan, was crossing the busy Falls Road in Belfast, when he was struck by a taxi and flung over its roof. The taxi drove away and as Finnegan lay stunned in the road, another car ran into him, rolling him into the gutter. It too drove on. As a group of people gathered to examine Finnegan, a delivery van plowed through the crowd, leaving in its wake three injured bystanders and an even more battered Bob Finnegan. When a fourth vehicle came along, the crowd wisely scattered and only one person was hit - Bob Finnegan. In the space of two minutes Finnegan suffered a fractured skull, broken pelvis, broken leg, and other assorted injures.

While motorcycling through the Hungarian countryside, Cristo Falatti came up to a train crossing just as the crossing gates were coming down. While he sat idling, he was joined by a farmer with a goat, which he tethered to the crossing gate. A few minutes later a horse and cart drew up behind Falatti, followed by a man in a sports car. When the train roared through the crossing, the horse was startled and bit Falatti on the arm. Not a man to be trifled with, Falatti responded by punching the horse in the head. The horse's owner jumped down from his cart and began scuffling with Falatti. The horse, still startled, backed up, smashing the cart into the sports car. At this, the driver of the sports car leaped out of his car and joined the fray. The farmer came forward to try and pacify the three flailing men. As he did, the crossing gates rose and strangled his goat.

Two West German motorists had an all-too-literal head-on collision. They were driving in heavy fog. Each was driving at a snail's pace near the center of the road. Both drivers had their heads out the window when they smacked together. Both were hospitalized with severe head injuries.

And you thought you have had a bad day!

I have a cousin who is a Baptist minister. When we were growing up, we only saw each other a couple of times a year. Now we see each other even less.

A few years ago, when I hadn't seen him for some time, I suddenly began thinking about him and his family. I just couldn't get them off my mind. And for some reason, I felt compelled to send him a check for $100. I thought about it for a few days and made more than one aborted trip to the post office. I finally mailed it with a letter saying I hope I wasn't offending him, but I believed the Lord wanted me to do this.

A couple of weeks later I received a reply. My cousin said it never ceased to amaze him how God worked in his life. And now God had once again shown him, through us, that he would always meet our needs. My cousin said the only concern he had was that I had sent too much. All he had needed was $97.56.

___________________

By Lalia Winsett from Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul, Copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Aubery and Nancy Mitchell

*

The other doors

Our four-year old son has some fairly serious health problems, so we are "frequent fliers" at the local children's hospital. Two weeks ago, our son was there for several days having surgery. As stressful as that was for us, my visits to that hospital almost always leave me feeling grateful. Why? Because of "the other doors."

As I walk the corridors of that hospital, I pass doors leading to many different departments. I pass the department where surgeons reconstruct children's faces. I pass the department where specialists treat children who have been tragically burned. I pass the department where children with cancer spend their childhoods battling a disease that terrifies most adults. Every day, people walk through those doors. I keep walking.

Occasionally, I walk through a ward, past the room of a dying child. I look in at the child, unconscious amid a mass of tubes and machines. I see the family, staring blankly into space, grieving for what is to come. I keep walking.

On the fourth floor, I pass the "catacombs" where parents with children in ICU watch their days and nights stretch into weeks and months, hoping against hope for good news. I keep walking.

It's late one evening, and I walk to the waiting room. Only one family remains, and their doctor arrives from surgery. He begins to tell them about the patient's injuries....a shotgun blast, self-inflicted....massive facial damage....a dozen more operations to come....a lifetime of disfigurement...a lifetime of asking "why?" I sit, half-listening, considering the doors this family will face in the years ahead. I stand up.

I walk back to the preschool ward, to the one door I seek. Behind this door, our son is slowly recovering from surgery. And in a strange way, I am grateful for the "situation" that we live with. Because there are a hundred other doors in this place that are far worse. And we could just as easily be in one of those rooms.

As you pray for strength to open the doors you face, be sure to thank God for the doors he has spared you.

Felix of Nola--a Christian of many centuries ago--was running away from persecutors. He crawled into a cave to hide and instinctively began to pray for safety. A spider began to spin a web over the small entrance to the

cave. Enemy troops came to the cave, saw the web, and concluded no one was in there. Felix of Nola later wrote: "Where God is, a web is like a wall. Where God is not, a wall is like a web."

John Witherspoon was one of signers of Declaration of Independence. President of College of NJ. Lived a couple of miles away at Rocky Hill. Drove horse & buggy each day to work. One day a neighbor burst into his office shouting, “Dr. Witherspoon, you must join me in giving thanks to God for his extraordinary providence in saving my life, for as I was driving from Rocky Hill the horse ran away and the buggy was smashed on the rocks, but I escaped unharmed!” Witherspoon replied, “Why I can tell you a far more remarkable providence than that. I have driven that road hundreds of times. My horse never ran away, my buggy was never smashed, I was never hurt.”