I wanted to share something else this week, but someone sent me an article, which made me decide otherwise. If you have read it before, please bear with me till the end and together, let’s ponder over a few questions.
A young man, who was getting ready to graduate from college, told his wealthy father that he wanted one particular sport car, which he had been admiring for months in a dealer’s showroom. On the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his study and told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and how much he loved him. He handed him a beautifully wrapped gift box.
Curious, but a bit disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with his name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice at his father and asked, “With all your money, you only give me a Bible?” Then, he stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible behind.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business and had a beautiful home and a wonderful family. He realized that his father was very old and decided to see him again. But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram informing him that his father had died and willed all of his possessions to him. He was needed home immediately to take care of things. He went back and began to search through his father’s important documents and saw the Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened it and began to turn the pages. He saw that his father had underlined one verse, Mat. 7:11, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him”
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer’s name on it, the date of his graduation, and the words: PAID IN FULL...
The article ends with this question: “How many times do we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?”
There are many lessons in this story. For instance, we can speak of the devastation of anger and lack of forgiveness; or the ravages of lack of communication; the ravages of incomprehension and prejudice or the ravages of the lack of respect etc. indeed, if this son had a little bit of respect for his father, he would have taken the gift, at least. If he knew his father well enough, he would have known that his father would have never “joked” like that on such a big day and he would have granted him the benefit of the doubt …
Now, lets transpose this story into our context. Imagine that you are in urgent need of money to invest, pay a bill or rent or buy food. You go and see a wealthy relative or acquaintance; but instead of giving you the required amount, he or she gives you a Bible verse. What will your reaction be? Will you be forever grateful for the Word or will you curse them and their money in your heart? If you are angry and curse (i.e. ill-speak), how are you different from this young man and why is money more important than the Word of God in this specific case? Don’t you believe that: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” or “receive the Word and money will come afterwards” also applies here?
Here is another example. Let’s say you are 30+ and desperately want to get married. You’ve been praying and fasting for this for years now. But instead of granting your request, the Lord sends you in a remote place or in an organisation that you resent; and you are supposed to spend the next five years there! You are not happy and after a few months, you quit. Little do you know that God sent you there for you to meet your life partner, the spouse that you’ve prayed so much for! He had granted your prayers by transferring you to that place and you did not understand it and left without collecting your blessing.
People, God is GOOD! He is not sadistic. He only wills the best for us. I said earlier that if that young man had known his father well, he would have never condemned it so quickly. He would have suspected that there was probably more than “just” the Bible. Besides, even if it was only the Bible, he would have trusted his father’s judgement that if that was the only thing he had deemed it necessary to give, then he knew what he was doing. His father loved him and was very proud of him and he was not aware of this. Likewise, we often refuse or despise God’s “presents” because we do not know Him and we do not understand how much He loves and is proud of us. If not, we would trust Him, entirely, in everything.
Take good care of the “gift” that God has just given you. At the first glance, it probably doesn’t look anything like what you expected; but if you give thanks and begin to unwrap it, you’ll soon discover that it is actually the answer to your prayers. After all, His most sublime gift to us was wrapped in the stench of cow dung and chicken’s droppings when it came: Jesus was born in a manger and not in a palace…
