A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealers showroom, and knowing that his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather bound Bible, with the young man’s name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a BIble?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his father was very old and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. But before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things. When he arrived at his father’s house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father’s important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.
His father has carefully underlined a verse, Matthew 7:11, "And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father which is in heaven, give 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 dealers name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words....PAID IN FULL.
Sometimes we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged like we expect them to be.
You may have been praying for awhile...We want a promotion... and get fired. We pray for a clean bill of health... the doctor “finds something.” We become convinced he’s the “one”.... and he walks out. We ask God for peace... our week gets more stressful. So many times we feel short-changed by God because what we face sure doesn’t look like a blessing. We didn’t ask for it. We don’t want it. We think we deserve better.
But you know… sometimes God IS blessing us and we don’t even realize it.
We want a promotion... and get fired... to get a much more fulfilling job!
We pray for a clean bill of health... the doctor “finds something”... but it is still early enough to treat for a full recovery!
We become convinced he’s the “one”.... and he walks out... to make room for the Godly man that values us for who we are in Christ.
We ask God for peace... our week gets more stressful... so that Christ can strengthen our faith by allowing us to depend on Him to get through.
We want success... we fail... but in that failure, we learn and grow in ways that immediate success would prevent from happening.
Today, I dare you to think differently. I don’t know what you are asking God to do in your life... but I wonder if He hasn’t already answered the request. Look closer. Have you rejected what you see in front of you... dismissing it as God not understanding ...
God understands. We’re the ones that don’t get it.
"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Isaiah 55:8
Maybe the key is there... tucked behind what appears to be a “no” to what we’re asking for.
Count on God to bless us in the best way possible... His way... even if at first we don’t realize He’s doing it.
