Skip to main content

Two Boats


The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. (II Peter 3:9-10)
There’s and old story about a guy trapped on a roof in a flood. Someone comes along in a rowboat, and the guy refuses to leave the roof, proclaiming, “God will rescue me!” As the water continues to rise, someone from the Cajun Navy offers him a ride, and the man says again, “God will rescue me!” Later, as the water is splashing onto the roof, someone in a helicopter offers help, and the man swallows, but insists, “God will rescue me.” The house collapses, the man perishes, and as he stands before God, he asks, “Why didn’t you rescue me?
And God says, “I sent a rowboat, a member of the Cajun Navy, and a helicopter. Why didn’t you listen?
I don’t really like this story, because it seems designed to ridicule faith, but it does illustrate what does happen in our lives. Often, God acts, and because He doesn’t act the way we expect, we miss it or maybe even reject it. Often, God doesn’t seem to act, and we think that either He doesn’t care, or that He isn’t able when the reality is that He is showing patience with us or with people we don’t think deserve said patience. 
God has been so, so patient with me as I blunder through life, vacillating between extreme over-confidence and cowardice with almost no warning, holding on to false gods that I love and hate and can’t seem to keep from placing on the throne of my life in His place. He is patient with others when we think He should strike them with lightning bolts. He is patient with the world, content to give each of us opportunities to turn to Him.
And sometimes, we judge Him for His patience, because we want to see justice done our way. That person, or those people, should suffer for what they’ve done! And we’re right, they should suffer. And because we want that suffering, we don’t recognize that we’re the member of the Cajun Navy set to give them a ride to safety, or we refuse. We’re right, they should suffer, but so should we, and so should our beloved friend or relative for whom we accuse God of punishing for some small sin or weakness, or taking him/her “too soon,” without giving him/her a chance.
God gives us every second of every day to repent. He gives us every breath and heartbeat to repent. But He does not give us forever.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more