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The Situation
by Jerry Ousley Man what a situation! I had a flat tire on a federal highway on my way home from work. That's something that can happen to any of us at any time so we try to be prepared by having a spare tire in the trunk. I did and so I pulled over, opened the trunk and began the process of changing the tire. At that time I was driving a 1972 Chevy a big boat of a car. It was not only large but very heavy. It sported the old fashioned type of bumper jack. I had loosened the lug nuts and jacked the car up enough to remove the tire but because I hadn't been able to get very far off the highway, every time a car came whizzing by the wind from it was enough to make that large Chevy begin to lean into the jack. The car would start to fall and I would quickly grab it by the back bumper and push it up on the jack again. It was dangerous, I know, because those old fashioned jacks were famous for kicking out in situations like this. So there I stood holding the car up to keep it from falling off the jack. How was I ever going to get this thing changed? Fortunately a "good Samaritan" stopped and held it in place as I quickly removed the flat tire and put the spare on, tightening the lug nuts so that we could let it down off that jack. Man, was I grateful to him! Otherwise I might still be out there scratching my head with one hand while putting my weight against the car to keep it from falling off that jack! We find ourselves in predicaments sometimes. More often than not those situations are much more serious than trying to figure out how to make a car stay on a jack. We find ourselves in life-problems that make us feel helpless, afraid, concerned, and angry. A man in Jesus' day found himself there. We read the story in Mark 9:14-29. Jesus had taken Peter, James and John with Him up on the mountain where He had been transfigured into His heavenly glory in front of those three men. There He spoke with Moses and Elijah as the awe-struck disciples looked on. What a glorious moment! As they returned from atop that mountain of glory, stepping back into real life they found confusion where the rest of the disciples and a crowd of people seemed to be perplexed and arguing. A man had brought his son to Jesus to be healed; only when he got there Jesus wasn't around. His disciples had prayed for his son and had tried to cast the demonic spirit from the boy but were unsuccessful. For a moment let's put ourselves into this man's shoes. He had spent a small fortune trying to get his boy help from doctors of their day all to no avail. He was heartbroken, helpless and frustrated each and every time this evil spirit threw his son into convulsions, sometimes causing him to fall into the fire. At that precise moment the boy fell into one of his fits as he lay on the ground wallowing around and foaming at the mouth. His son was a young man now and as Jesus asked the question, "How long has he been like this?" the horrible experience raced through the father's head as he answered, "Since childhood." For many years he had held his son down in effort to calm him. He had wrestled him until peace would finally return. It had been a nightmare not only for the boy but for his entire family. And now that he had finally brought him to Jesus, in His absence His disciples were just as helpless as he had been. This further frustrated the situation and it seemed as if there was no hope to be found. We find ourselves there from time to time. It may not be a demonic spirit tormenting us. Perhaps it's a situation with our grown up children. Or maybe our spouse has let us down again. A friend or loved one is hopelessly caught up in drug abuse, illicit sex or perhaps it involves the enslavement of alcoholism. It could be many things that bring us, like this father, to the brink of emotional confusion. Know that Jesus is the answer in any case. It may seem like He's away somewhere on top of a mountain and that He doesn't care about us in our situation. Maybe we're stranded on the road of life with a flat tire and we helplessly try to hold up our vehicle as motorists whiz by unconcerned with our problems. They may be thinking, "I don't have time to help because I've got problems of my own." Rest assured, Jesus will be along shortly. He may allow us to arrive at the place where we are at the bottom of our problem with nowhere else to turn. But He will come down from the mountain; He will be the "good Samaritan" that stops to rescue us. He is the hope in our hopelessness. Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |