The Time I Tried to Steal a Car

Suggested Reading: 1 Samuel 25

I was never what you would call a "trouble-maker" growing up. Most people would have called me a "goody-two-shoes" and I took more than a little grief for how "good" I was. But looking back on my childhood, I was very fortunate that I did not get in more trouble. I remember this one time, when I was 14 or 15 when I was extremely angry with my parents. At that point, we had this key hanger where my parents tried to put their keys when they came in. For a couple of weeks, my mother had dutifully hung her keys there. On this particular day, while I was very angry with my parents (for what I don't remember) and while they were gone I decided I was angry enough to do something about it. My parents had gone out together, so I figured they only needed one set of keys, and I decided that I would take the car that was still home for a spin. I worked my anger into a hardened resolve and I marched over to the key hanger. There were no keys. My parents had taken all the keys with them. My anger quickly dissipated into frustration and, by the time my parents got home, I was fine again. Looking back on that incident, I've often thought about how the Lord protected me, both from danger and from doing wrong, by having my parents take both sets of keys with them.

There is a similar story in the life of David. David and his men had been standing guard for a group of shepherds for a season and, as was the custom, expected that he and his men would receive a token of tribute for their service when it came time to shear the sheep. David sent a few of his men to collect this token and Nabal, the owner of the sheep they had protected, turned them away with insults. When the messengers returned to David and told David of Nabal's response, David was furious and roused his men for war. Back at Nabal's home, Nabal's wife Abigail heard how foolish her husband had been and loaded up a wagon full of provisions to take to David and head off the danger her husband's foolishness had caused. She met David before he reached Nabal's home, presented him with the customary reward for guarding the sheep (and probably a little more) and spoke to David. Abigail said, "Now my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, it is the LORD who kept you from participating in bloodshed by avenging yourself by your own hand" (1 Samuel 25:26, HCSB). David agreed with her sentiment and they both returned to their respective homes. Two weeks later, Nabal was dead from a stroke and David asked Abigail to be his wife.

In this particular instance, David was going to make a big mess of things because he felt he had been wronged, much like the mess I would have made if I'd had access to the car keys and had acted out my anger by taking an underage joy-ride. In those instances, neither David nor I could take credit for not doing something stupid. We were both saved from our own stupidity and anger because of circumstances or people God had placed in our lives.

I often meet Christians who don't feel like they have a story to tell because they were never drug dealers or gang members whose lives were turned around by the power of the Gospel. But sometimes, the fact that God prevented us from doing stupid things is just as powerful a story. None of us, even the "best" of us, are all that good on our own. At times, only the loving intervention of our Heavenly Father keeps us from completely ruining things.

If you want a story to tell other people about God's power, don't think that you have to pull out an example of horrible sin and how God turned you around. Point out times where God, in grace, saved you from doing something stupid, protected you from your own penchant for sin, and saved you before you realized you needed saving. God's power can be demonstrated by the times God keeps us from going over the brink, not just by the times God pulls us back from it.

How often has God saved you from doing something stupid and kept you from ruining things? Thank God for the protection you've been given and then be willing to share that story. Never underestimate the power of God's preventive care.

Saving a Town from Loaded Dice

Suggested Reading: Proverbs 16:22-33

Several years ago, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was in a movie called Walking Tall, based on the true story of a man whose town had been taken over by a drug ring and who got himself elected Sheriff to clean up the town. In the movie, The Rock's problems began when a friend invited him to a casino. While he was there, he noticed that one of the men running the games was using a pair of loaded dice. When he attempted to call the dealer on the carpet, the dealer denied it but the Rock took the loaded dice from him and told every one to place their bets because the dice were going to come up seven. Without even looking, he tossed the dice down and the place erupted as everyone who had listened to him and placed bets won. The Rock knew that the roll of the dice was not random and he bet on it.

For people living in Old Testament times, the idea that the roll of the dice might be random was a completely foreign concept. Proverbs 16:33 reads, "We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall" (NLT). Numerous other places throughout the Proverbs echo similar themes. The Urim and Thumim, God's way of answering yes/no questions through the priests, relied on the same concept. For the ancient Israelites, nothing was truly random. The Lord was in control of everything. Even during the Early Church era, the disciples cast lots to determine God's will for Judas Iscariot's replacement among the twelve apostles

Now, I'm not necessarily saying we should return to casting lots to make decisions. After all, shortly after choosing that replacement apostle, the Holy Spirit fell on the believers and we now have access to God's Spirit to help us with decisions. But I do think we could stand to learn a lot from these biblical characters when it comes to how we view "randomness." We must remember that nothing is truly random when God is in control of even how the dice tumble and which side of a coin lands facing up. That person setting across from you at the restaurant is there for a reason. Your neighbor was placed there by God. That light you caught on the way to work delayed you with purpose. God is a master weaver and has spun the threads of our lives with intricate detail and design.

We must learn to watch for God's hand in the day to day "randomness" of our lives. We must keep our eyes open for those hurting people God brings across our path, for the Gospel-hungry souls we "bump into" throughout the day, for those brothers and sisters God wants to match us up with for the work of the Kingdom. The dice of our lives are loaded and we must bet on them with the way we live.