Happy

I believe that true happiness only comes when God is at the center of your life. Happiness comes when you know you have enough, and are grateful for it. Gratitude is the key ingredient in happiness. So without God, who or what will you be grateful to? The knowledge that all good gifts are from God gives us the much needed source toward which we can aim our gratitude. Gratitude is not only happiness-inducing, it's life-giving.

"It's In There"

I have read the Bible cover to cover at least fourteen times. I know this because I was given my first "One Year Bible" about fifteen years ago and have read it every day, every year ever since. And yet, I still can't quote passages by chapter and verse. Either I just don't see the great importance of such memorization of numerical references, or I'm just a dummy with a bad memory for details. Maybe some of both. (I get a kick out of TV shows and movies where tough cops are able to pull Bible quotes by chapter and verse out of their heads when some obscure clue has been left by a looney criminal.) I once heard it said that Einstein didn't know his own phone number. He said he never cluttered up his memory with things he could look up. (And you can look that up to see whether it's true. Ha ha.)

And yet, I know what's in the Bible. Maybe not by numerical reference, but like the Ragu commercial says, "it's in there." When I read the Bible, especially the New Testament, I am reading it with an inquiring and open mind, seeking Truth. Seeking answers. I am not trying to memorize it, but the Truth of it lodges in my mind. Do I know everything that's in the Bible? No. In fact, every time I read it again, I discover something I must have previously glossed over, or was simply not ready to understand until that moment. Anyway, I sometimes wonder if I would be taken seriously about my understanding of the contents of the Bible if I were unable to back it up with a chapter-and-verse reference. And this led me to think about my grandmother.

My grandmother made the best muffins in the world. (With apologies to everyone else whose grandmother also made the best muffins in the world.) Anyway, I once asked her for the recipe. She told me you take some graham flour....I asked her how much. "Oh I don't know, I guess three or four handfuls." How much shortening? "Oh I don't know, I guess about a half an egg shell's worth." The whole recipe went like that. "A small handful of sugar." In the end the only thing I knew for sure was "one egg".

But I know for sure that Grandma made the best muffins in the world, even if she couldn't give me precise measurements. It's how you use what you know.

Where There Is No Way

We tend to forget that God can help us, indeed rescue us, in ways that we cannot imagine. We tend to think, "What's the use of asking God for help? There's no way out of this one." We make the mistake of limiting God by assuming He is burdened by the same limitations we are. Oh no no no . I've recently run across a few examples in the Bible to illustrate that point. (Of course there are many.)

When there was no water for the Israelites as they wandered in the desert, it seemed hopeless and they all complained and grumbled. But God gave them water, and he provided it through a totally unexpected source. From a rock. There's a surprise. And by the way, He did it more than once. When they cried out that they wanted meat, they couldn't imagine any way they could get it out there in the desert. But who could have dreamed that God would bring a huge flock of quail into the camp on the wind? And they flew around just above the ground where everyone could reach out and grab one.

Or how about the big one? When the Israelites reached the Red Sea with the Egyptian army hot on their heels, there was no where to go. Trapped like rats. Certainly no way out of this one. But SURPRISE, the sea parted so they could walk on over to the other side between the walls of stationary water on either side of them. Wow. Didn't see that one coming.

Oh there are so many, but here's another one I love. When Gideon went to war with the Midianites, who were seemingly as numerous as the stars in the sky, God instructed Gideon to pare down his army from 32,000 men to 300. Yeah, 300. I'm sure no one could imagine how victory would be accomplished against this enormous army with a band of 300 men. But God wanted to show that He would give them the victory, with no way to later claim it by their own might. So these 300 men broke up into smaller groups and surrounded the Midianite camp, every man holding a trumpet and a torch hidden inside a clay jar. When the signal was given, all 300 men broke the jars, exposing their torches, and blew those horns. The spectacle so frightened the Midianite soldiers as they woke up confused, they did something no one could have expected (except God of course). They were thrown into such a state of confusion and fright, they began killing each other! I don't think even Gideon knew that would happen, but he simply did as he was told. He obeyed and the result was amazing.

It also fascinates me that in each case, the help came in such surprising ways. In the case of the water in the desert, God could simply have made a big pool of water appear where none had been before. Poof. Or made water suddenly appear in all of their empty vessels and skins. Same with the meat. He could have blinked his eyes and made a big pit of roasting meat appear. He could have miraculously made the whole Israelite nation suddenly disappear from one side of the Red Sea and then materialize on the other side. God is God. He can do anything.

But what I like is the ingenious nature of these miracles. It might be too easy to pass off the more spontaneous versions I mentioned as hallucinations. Too easy to forget later. "Nah, couldn't have happened that way. I must be remembering it wrong. I was half-crazed with fear and exhaustion." But you can bet they all remembered vividly each painstaking step they had to take across the floor of the Red Sea as they passed through walls of water. I'm sure they could easily recall flowing water gushing from a rock in the dry desert. Their muscle memory would have no trouble recalling running around the camp laughing and reaching into the air to catch quail.

And they're such perfect examples for us to remember all these years later. They're vivid pictures, alive with detail. God can rescue you from anything. Anything.

So don't ever think "there's no way out of this one". Pray and believe. God has a greater imagination than you do. And He is able to "find a way where there is no way."
Pray, believe, receive.

Thank you God!