JOKE
ILLUSTRATION: A pirate
had a wooden leg, a hook on one arm, and a patch over one eye. Someone asked
him how these things happened. He said that a whale bit off his leg, a
crocodile had chewed off his hand, and a bird dropping hit him in the eye. The
other guy replied that he understood about the wooden leg having had his
original bite off by a whale, and the hook was there to replace the hand the
crocodile had chewed off, but a patch over the eye because of a bird dropping
... that he didn’t understand. The pirate said that when the bird dropping hit
him in the eye—that was the first day he had had his hook!
The pirate forgot he had a
hook at the end of his arm instead of hand. Because he forgot something
important he ended up hurting himself. In life there are many things we must
remember and when we forget them—we can easily make decisions that injure and
hurt ourselves. God knew that humans are quick to forget even important things.
In the Old Testament story of the exodus we read of God doing many things for
the Israelites. He performed many miracles for them. He parted the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh's army. He fed them in the
desert with manna. He made water come out of rocks. He provided for the people
of Israel
But God knew and Joshua knew
that people are quick to forget even what God has done for them. So God told
Joshua to have the people collect large stones and to build a huge monument of
rocks. And God said, "When the children of the next generation ask, 'What
are these rocks doing here?, you will tell them, 'These rocks are here to
remind you of how God saved you and provided for you and of all the great
things he did for you.'"
It is very easy for us to
forget what God has done for us and how he has helped us in the past. We need
to remember what God has done for us. We need to think of all the ways God has
helped us and then we need to build a monument of rocks in our mind and heart
so that we don't forget.
We need to remember how God
showed his faithfulness to us and how God has taken care of us. If we forget
what God has done for us in the past we can hurt ourselves by making bad
decisions.
Remember, when the pirate
forgot about his hook he injured himself. So also if we forget about what God
has done for us we also can easily hurt ourselves by accident. We may not poke
our eye out but we can hurt ourselves in other ways. For example, when we
forget about how God helped us in the past it is very hard to have confidence
that God will help us in the future. And when we don't have faith that God will
help us in the future we begin to let fear and worry fill our hearts.
God does not want us to live
in worry. God does not want us to be afraid. The Bible actually says a heart
that is filled with worry can hurt your body.
We cannot escape difficulty.
We cannot always escape pain. We cannot escape disappointment. We cannot always
escape a broken heart. Life is not always fun. Sometimes there are tears.
Sometimes we have very difficult decisions to make.
Being a Christian, being a
follower of Jesus DOES NOT mean that life will be perfect. It does not mean
life will always be fun. It does not mean life will always be like your
birthday or Valentine's day.
Being a Christian means God is
always with you! Being a follower of Jesus means you know that God will never
leave you!
Life will always have
difficulty…there will always be sad days mixed with happy days. BUT the GOOD
NEWS is that Jesus is with us! Jesus will walk with us through the hard days.
"Though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death you are with me. Your rod and your staff they
comfort me." (Psalm 23).
Before we read of the
"valley of the shadow of death" we read about quiet peaceful rivers,
green pastures and about how the Good Shepherd will make sure we don't lack
anything we need. Wow-that sounds good doesn't it? So far it sounds great to be
a Christian. But we must read on—it then says, "when I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death…" Whoa, stop right there! That sounds scary,
that sounds dark! But let's continue, it then says, "I will fear no evil
for you are with me and your rod and your staff comfort me."
You see even though their will
be days that will be difficult and dark—we have God's promise that he will not
leave us alone. He will not let us walk alone. He will be with us. There will
be times of green pastures and quiet waters and those times are wonderful—but
there will also be days of sadness, crying and disappointment.
Being a Christian is not about
not having bad days—it is knowing that God will never leave you or forsake you.
"Distress was all around
me…but the Lord was my help and support" Psalm 18:1-6, 16-21
Sometimes when life is
difficult and painful we enter a time of depression. That is when we need to
remember ourselves of God's faithfulness in the past. We need to remember what
God has done for us to build up our faith.
Start with thanking God that
he will not leave you alone.
Remember what God has done for
you and how he has blessed you. If you have food to eat—thank him. If you have
clothes to wear—thank him. If you have a roof over your head—thank Him. If you
are not sick—thank Him. Are you paralyzed? Blind? If not—then thank Him. Thank
him for being with you in the past and trust Him to be with you in the future.
Once when I went through my
own difficult time and shadow of death from a broken relationship/engagement I
went into a dark depression that I could not get out of. I thought that I was
alone and that God had forgotten me. I thought my life was over…I just wanted
to fall asleep and die in my sleep. Then my friend said, "Matt—you need to
remember God's faithfulness to you in the past! You need to start thanking him
for how is has been good to you!" As I began to thank God every morning
for small things (not paralyzed, not sick…) I slowly began to regain my joy.
Take time in prayer to think
of everything God has done for you and turn each one into a stone of
remembrance that you use to build up your monument to God's faithfulness.
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