Call on His Name--by Linden Malki

God is capable of whatever we need. Not always what we want, but what He knows is best for us. We are so blessed in the universe He created; it shines with His personality. The other day I was driving home from work, and I could see a rising moon playing tag with some wispy clouds, and it was not only beautiful, but right where I could watch it and the road home at the same time. It was perfectly placed to show me the beauty of His world, in a way that I could appreciate the fact that He did create it on His scale but shares it with us so that we can know where we are in relationship to Him. We are called to humble ourselves before Him, but also invited to listen to Him in prayer, turn the imperfections of our lives to His words, His forgiveness, His care.

He is amazingly patient with us. Yes, there are limits to it, but I happened to read a comment the other day that even Cain didn’t get zapped on the spot, which he richly deserved. He didn’t get off the hook, either. Looking at 2 Chronicles 7:14, the backstory is that God had worked through several generations and bypassed the rest of David’s sons to come to the point of having Solomon build the Temple. And the promise is that He will continue to watch over His people—but with conditions. It’s amazing what He put up with over the next thousand years until the time was ripe for the Messiah to come and the Temple to go away. It’s also interesting that in a society that was waiting for Messiah to come that they were looking for a political answer, despite the failure of politics to get them where they needed to be. This is one of the way He works—lets us try our own resources until we learn that’s not how He takes care of us.

We’ve certainly seen that in our church. We’ve come to the end of our rope a couple of times, and just when there aren’t any frayed ends left, He stepped in and is putting us on a whole new track. He doesn't make life easy for us; it wouldn't be good for us. When St Paul said that "all things work together for good for those who have been called according to HIs purpose" (Romans 8:28) it doesn't say what kind of things they might be; just that the end result is for our good. A running joke in my life in the car business is that I've driven a lot of varied cars, and I've had them quit for a variety of reasons, but always within reach of help . Right now, I’m looking at my little red car dead on the lot. We just happened to have a car here dropped off by a customer who wants it out of his life, and runs well enough to get me around but still needs more attention. So today, my daughter just found out about an appropriate car a friend needs to sell, for just about what I can afford, right now. And yesterday, she thought I was weird for not worrying about it. A small thing, perhaps, in the big world, but another reminder that He does take care of His people.