From a Human Perspective, God's Timing Seems Wrong

The builders and decorators of a large cathedral made the mistake of admitting visitors while remodeling work was in progress. The workers heard nothing but complaining about the renovation being done. All the negative comments forced the construction team to close the doors and not admit anyone except the workmen. After the remodeling and decorating was finally completed, everyone had nothing but praise for the beautiful work the construction crew had done.

When God is at work, many people complain because they only see how the present situation looks. They don’t realize that God isn’t finished yet. In His perfect timing, everything will come together and the doors will open. “He has made everything beautiful in its time” (Eccl. 3:11).

After Joseph was unjustly thrown into prison in Egypt, he asked Pharoah’s cupbearer, who was also a prisoner, to remember him after he was released. After the cupbearer got out of prison, he forgot to tell Pharoah about Joseph. It wasn’t because he has a bad memory, but because the timing wasn’t right for Joseph to be promoted.

Two years later, Pharoah had two dreams that needed interpreting, and that’s when the cupbearer remembered Joseph. After Joseph interpreted Pharoah’s dreams, the time was right for him to be promoted to prime minister (Gen. 40-41).

God could have given Pharaoh the dreams two years earlier. Instead, He allowed Joseph to spend two more years locked up because it wasn’t his time. Psalm 105:17-19 says Joseph served as a slave and was imprisoned “until the time his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him.” “Until the time” means it wasn’t time to get out. “The Lord tested him” means waiting for two more years was a test of his faith.

The funny thing about God’s timing is, from a human perspective, it always seems to be wrong. We usually think God should come through for us sooner—and that’s why people complain. But when everything is ready and all the pieces of God’s plan comes together, then we see His timing wasn’t wrong after all.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Big Bears and Little Bears

A couple of men went camping deep in the woods. One of the men was a big, powerful guy, while his buddy was small. The little man said to the big guy, “You know, if I were as big as you, I’d go out into the woods and find a big bear to fight. Yep, that’s what I’d do if I were as big as you.” The big guy looked at his friend and said, “You know, there are a lot of little bears out there too.”

Many people tell us what we need to do, but they aren’t willing to do it themselves. The truth is, there are enough big and little bears out there for all of us. We need to learn how to defeat the little bears before we can defeat the big ones. God will show us how to overcome small trials so we will have confidence when we face bigger challenges.

David was a shepherd boy and had never fought in a battle before. One day when he was tending his sheep, a lion attacked the flock and David killed it. Another time, a bear attacked the flock, (perhaps a little bear), and he killed it too. 

One day the Philistines gathered to fight Israel and challenged them to fight their giant named Goliath. Everyone in Israel was frightened, including King Saul. No one was willing to fight Goliath except the shepherd boy, David. He told Saul, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:37). In other words, “Killing a little bear was training to prepare me to fight this big bear.”

Saul told David, “Go and may the Lord be with you.” Saul could have said, “May the Lord be with me as I fight Goliath,” but he didn’t. Saul was willing for David to fight the big bear, but he wasn’t willing to do it himself.

God’s “training camp” is to help you overcome small trials so you’ll be ready and confident when you have to face a giant challenge. And remember, the same Lord who helped David will also help you.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Have You Ever Felt the Holy Spirit Tug at Your Heart?

A little boy was flying his kite. It flew so high that it rose into the clouds where he couldn’t see it. A man standing nearby tried to have some fun with him. He asked, “How do you know the kite is up there? I can’t see it. Can you?”

“No, I can’t see it,” the boy replied. “But I know it’s up there because I can feel a little tug now and then.”

The Holy Spirit will lead you by tugging on your heart in the direction you need to go. Left to itself, the heart will selfishly mislead you every time and pull you in the wrong direction (Jer. 17:9). But when your heart is controlled by the Holy Spirit, He can direct your steps on the right path. “Following your heart” doesn’t mean fulfilling your selfish impulses, but following the Holy Spirit’s leading.

When you are being led by the Holy Spirit, one way He will guide you is by placing His desires into your heart so that you will want what He wants. “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). When you find your joy in pleasing the Lord, the Holy Spirit tugs inside your heart to pull you in the direction where He wants you to go.

It’s not a normal desire to want to leave the comfort of America to serve as a missionary in Africa or India. Yet, I have known people whose passion was to live in poverty-stricken countries to reach people for Christ. That desire comes from the Holy Spirit.

God has a unique plan for each person, so He guides everyone on different paths. When you yield yourself to His control, He will put His desires in your heart so He can guide you down the path He wants you to travel. His guidance will never contradict what He has already told us in the Scriptures.

The key to receiving God’s guidance is surrendering yourself to Him and His plan for your life. It’s never selfish to want what God wants for you. (see Gal. 5:16-17)    www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Don't Let Rejection Defeat You

Perhaps there’s no more heartbreaking story of rejection than that of John Kennedy Toole, the author of A Confederacy of Dunces. In 1969, three years after Simon & Schuster rejected the novel, Toole became so despondent that he committed suicide. 

Toole’s grief-stricken, yet incredibly determined mother asked everyone she could think of to read the book. Seven years of rejections later, she got it into the hands of novelist and professor Walker Percy. How could he say no to this poor woman with her deceased son’s unpublished manuscript? With great dread, Percy began reading the book, hoping it would be so horrible that he could discard it after reading a few pages.

It didn’t take him long to realize the book was so good he was going to have to read the entire manuscript. Halfway through the book he knew he was holding a novel of immense value. Although the content in the manuscript wouldn’t win any Christian awards, A Confederacy of Dunces went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, selling more than 1.5 million copies in 18 languages. Imagine the books Toole might have written if he had the same determination as his mother.

Rejection is a part of life. Everyone is going to be rejected in one way or another, so we need to learn how to deal with it. Every successful author had their manuscript rejected many times by publishers before someone finally recognized the person’s gift. Every successful athlete had to overcome losing in order to get better.

Rejection can be devastating, so that’s why we need to see it from God’s point of view. Man’s rejection can be God’s PROTECTION. Sometimes the Lord is saying, “I’m closing this door because this isn’t My will for you.” He’s protecting you from harm that you can’t see at the present time.

Rejection can also be God’s DIRECTION. God’s hand is diverting you to a new and better place that you wouldn’t have thought about on your own. Other rejections are designed to increase your determination through faith and persistence, like the Canaanite woman who wouldn’t quit (Matt. 21:22-28). Under no circumstances are you to let rejection defeat you or keep you from reaching your full potential, like it did with John Kennedy Toole.   www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Two Babies in a Manger

Marie Pemberton lost her four-year-old son Jeremy to leukemia. Her son had spent a lot of time playing with a neighbor boy named Chris. After the funeral, little Chris went up to Marie and asked where Jeremy was. Marie didn’t want to explain to him that he had died, so she said, “Ask your mother, Chris. She can explain it better than I can.”

Six months later, it was Christmastime. Marie had been depressed because this would be her first Christmas without Jeremy. One day she heard a knock on her door. It was Chris’ mother, Ellie Martin, who invited Marie to come to her house to see their Christmas tree. “And I want to show you something else that you’ve just got to see.”

Marie followed Ellie to her house, and down to the basement den where she showed her their newly decorated tree. Then she said, “Now take a look at this nativity scene.” She pointed to two baby dolls under a blanket in the manger. “Why are there two baby figures under the blanket?” Marie asked.

Ellie explained, “Do you remember last summer when you sent Chris back home to ask me where Jeremy was? I told him Jeremy had gone to be with Jesus. When we set up the nativity scene, I placed the Christ child in the manger. Chris watched me, and then ran to get another doll and tucked it in alongside him. “When I asked him why, he said, ‘I remembered what you told me. Jeremy is with Jesus now.’” (Marie L. Pemberton, “A Child Shall Lead Them.”)

Chris’s childlike faith brought assurance to a grieving mother, who needed to be reminded that Jeremy was in the arms of the Lord. Jesus came from heaven to earth to make a way for us to be with Him in heaven. He said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). When followers of Christ die, we will go to that place that He has prepared for us, and we will also get to meet Jeremy, who is with Jesus now.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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The Man Who Kept Celebrating Christmas

Robert Fulghum went to the doctor one day in February. As he sat in the waiting room, he noticed an elderly couple waiting. The woman wore holly berries and poinsettia leaves in her hair. The elderly man leaned forward and announced, “Merry Christmas!”

Fulghum replied, “Merry Christmas,” even though it was February. Suddenly the man started singing Christmas carols. The receptionist addressed the old man as Uncle Ed, bidding him Merry Christmas, and asking him to come back for his appointment.

After the old man left, the elderly wife explained his strange behavior. He had a couple of strokes some years back, and her husband’s behavior was changing. Then one March morning quite unexpectedly, he came downstairs announcing he had forgotten that it was Christmas. He urged his wife to help him put up the decorations and wrap gifts. The woman called her daughters and the whole family got together and celebrated Christmas that day.

After their daughters left, the man asked his wife to tell him about his childhood Christmases. Maybe it was merciful that he didn’t remember his abusive childhood, or that his family never celebrated Christmas. So, his wife spun tales of wonderful holidays, full of love, family traditions, and wonderful gifts. Her husband smiled.

Every few months, her husband will announce that it’s Christmas, and the family will once again gather together to celebrate. The daughters think of those celebrations as Father’s Day, their time to make him happy.

Maybe the old man was right. Christmas should be something we think about more than once a year. After all, Jesus came to earth to bring us eternal life, and that’s a gift that will last forever. Shouldn’t we should be thanking God and rejoicing every day?    www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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Lessons From Pavlov's Dogs

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell? Ivan Pavlov proved that two stimuli repeatedly linked together can produce a conditioned response. He observed that dogs would salivate when they were about to be fed. Pavlov rang a bell each time prior to feeding the dogs so they would associate the bell-ringing with dinner time. This conditioned them to salivate in the anticipation of being fed because bell ringing and eating were connected together. FOOD + BELL RINGING = SALIVATE

This explains why you crave popcorn when you go to the movies. You’ve eaten popcorn so many times as you’ve watched movies that popcorn munching and movie watching are connected together. Now you cannot watch a movie without eating popcorn—and you’ll even pay outrageous prices at the theatre to get it! MOVIE + SALIVATE = EXPENSIVE POPCORN  Here are a couple of examples about conditioned responses:

Example #1: Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.” When a person commits a crime, punishment must be executed quickly so that the criminal learns that his evil deed results in a painful penalty.  CRIME + PAIN = DETERRENCE for repeating the evil deed.  Failure to punish quickly will encourage others to commit crimes because they think “nothing will happen to me.” (There’s a lesson here about parenting a rebellious child)

Example #2: I once counseled a married couple who were always fighting. The husband said, “She hits my hot button and then I respond by hitting her hot button.” Their continual arguing had conditioned them to explode and know exactly how to retaliate.

The only way to “reverse the curse” of negative conditioning is to respond in the opposite way with kindness. First Peter 3:9 says, “Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult (negative conditioning with hateful words), but giving a blessing instead” (positive conditioning by speaking kind words). It takes time to recondition a marriage, but a happy home will be worth it.  www.kentcrockett.blogspot.com   www.makinglifecount.net

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