My husband was telling me a story about one of his travels (he travels for work). We live in the tropics and that time, he traveled in winter. Because it was in Africa, he didn’t think too much about the cold and didn’t prepare for it.
He was freezing! Lucky for him, a colleague from France lent him his jacket and he was able to cope in the weather. He however didn’t know that his room was equipped with a heater and he suffered the freeze when he got back to his hotel room until he discovered a switch.
We laughed at the experience but then it hit me that a lot of Christians are like this. We have had everything provided for us but we do not make use of the provisions because
- We do not know what we have in Christ
- We know what we have but have not done what needs to be done, say for example turning on a switch
- We do not ask the right questions
The Bible tells us to ask until our joy is full. The question to ask in terms of the cold situation was is there no way to keep warm? Instead the question asked was why would they leave me here without anything to keep me warm. We ask the wrong questions, what the Bible calls asking amiss.
The trip was also all expense paid, therefore hubby didn’t think he should be disturbing his sponsors with mundane things. A simple ask would have provided a solution instead of the unnecessary suffering. Unfortunately, this is how a lot of us are with God. We suffer unnecessarily and we are sharing in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is not how to partake in his death. He wants to know everything about us. If he dresses the lilies of the field, who are here today and gone tomorrow, why would he not be concerned about us despite the expense he has paid previously.
There are also times, we have a part to play in getting things from God. The heater was always there but something had to activate it. Likewise we as Christians need to activate. It could be building up our faith, praying according to the will of following instructions. Endless possibilities
Think about the ways you have made God small, repent and appreciate him for the big things, small things, the other things he has planned and the grace we have to ask of him according to his will for our lives.