“When Jesse was my age he never had to . . .” I don’t hear that so much anymore, but when both my sons lived at home . . . OY!
It’s too easy to look around and see things that seem unfair to us. Someone in the office avoids work and gets paid far more than we do. The two cars in front of us were going faster than us but we got the fine. So and so can afford a new car every two years and we’re still making the payments on our five year old Honda that’s already starting to rust!
A group of friends were discussing a similar issue last week. I have a friend who can sit for hours worshipping the Lord. Oh, I can worship the Lord, but I can’t sit still to do it if my life depended on it. I suppose, if I’m really, really honest, there’s a bit of coveting going on there. Gee, I hate saying that. I despise jealousy. I’ve tried, in my mind – even while writing this post – to justify myself – to phrase it in just a way so it doesn’t look like what it really is. If it walks like a duck . . .
I was no sooner finished my admission of guilt when someone else said, I wish I could write like you. It was then that it all hit me dead on between the eyes. I told my friend that she should be careful what she wished for because what she didn’t know is that while I may be able to write, I have dyslexia and it takes me at least three times as long as anyone else to learn something – especially if I have to read it. Given that my dear friend has a Master’s degree, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want everything that comes along with my gift.
It was during these brief moments of truth that I realized, at an entirely new level, that every time I look elsewhere other than at myself and God, I’m telling Him that He’s deficient in His provision, or that He’s unfair. It’s impossible for Him to be stingy or unfair. He gives and provides exceedingly and abundantly – beyond what I will ever deserve. In fact, if He gave me what I deserved . . . well . . . I don’t even want to go there.
In the Book of John, Chapter 21, after Jesus told Peter what was to come of him in his old age the first words out of his mouth were, in effect, “What about him?” He was referring to his friend John. Jesus’ simple and yet eloquent response was, “what is that to you?”
The Joneses have probably been around since the days of Abraham. Their family seems to be doing mighty fine because it seems as though many of us are often caught peeping into their house to see what they’ve got, or how we can keep up with them. So, when I find my little nose firmly pressed up against their window the distinctive echoes of my Jehovah Jireh reverberate from my head to my heart, “What is that to you?”
