God Will Turn It To Gold - Selwyn Hughes

Today I picked up one of those free sampler 30-day bible daily devotionals (by Selwyn Hughes) that I had sitting in my drawer. Of this 30-day sampler devotional, I had read 18 days worth of pages and recorded the date on each article that I'd read. Just flipping back on the pages today, I noticed that I had read "Day 1" of this devotional on the 1st of June 2009. That is almost 2 years ago! The last article I read was on 22 December 2010. Wow. If you divide the months over that span of one and a half years, that is a measely ONE article per month!

Well, a 30-day devotional, spread over 18 months, fantastic. Ok, at least, I have read something over 1.5 years... I consoled myself. Maybe some people haven't read anything in years? But that's quite a poor consolation, isnt' it? haha.

Well, today's devotional really spoke to my heart, and I want to share it here with everyone. It really tells us that our perception of God and about spending time "with" God or reading the bible, is sometimes very wrong! We think spending time reading the bible is going to deter us from fulfilling our daily routines. But here, God promises that it is not so! Read on….!

Day 19
GOD WILL TURN IT TO GOLD
For reading and meditation - Psalm 119:33-40
"Turn my heart towards your statutes and not toward selfish gain" (v.36)
(30 day sampler devotional "Not By Bread Alone" by Selwyn Hughes)

In my introduction I said that I had discovered three chief reasons why people do not regularly read the Scriptures. One, they find it unbelievably dull. Two, the lack time. And three, they don't know what to read and where to read. We have looked at some of the reasons why people find the Bible dull; now we consider the issue of time.

There are many who fear regular reading of the Bible will absorb more time than they can afford. Such an idea is mistaken. Time spent in the Bible is worth more than the time it takes. If God has given us a book which contains His will and purpose for our lives, if He promises (as He has) to work is will in us as we expose our minds to His Word, is there not something almost blasphemous in wondering whether we cna give it time?

Tagore, the Indian writer and poet, once told this parable. "I had gone a-begging from door to door in the vilage 'path', when Thy golden chariot appeared in the distance like a gorgeous dream and I wondered who was King of all Kings! Thy chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell upon me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then, of a sudden Thou didst hold out thy right had and say, "What hast thou to give to me?" Ah! What a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg? I was confused and undecided and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least little grain of corn and gave it to Thee. But how great was my surprise when at the day's end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a list little grain of gold among the poor heap. I wept bitterly and wished that I had the heart to give Thee my all."

If we give God a moment He will turn it to gold, but if we give Him more - what then?

[Prayer]
OGod, help me see more clearly than ever that the more time I spend in the Bible the more treasures will come out of it. I must re-prioritise my time schedules. Help me to put reading Your Word at the top of my list. In Jesus' name, Amen.

My Story of the Little Ant... I aint' No Saviour, but only God is!

Today, I saw a little flying ant get stuck in a drop of water near the tap of my sink. It's wings were wet and it could not move. I decided to try to save it and give it a 2nd chance to live. I took a piece of tissue and dried all the wet areas around the ant. Then I blew gently, hoping that the wind would help its wings dry faster. It started moving and i could see that it was still struggling to move its wings which were fastened together. But at least it was moving. I was overjoyed that perhaps, it had a new chance to get dry and fly again. I watched it intently after a while, and was content to let it get around on its own.

After doing a few other things, I came back to see it. But alas, was greatly saddened to find that it had sauntered into another pool of water and was waddling around in the water -- once again. This time, it was hardly struggling. Perhaps, it was almost about to die?

I watched it for a little while more, and gave up, decided to let it die because maybe it wasn't meant to survive the puddles of water anyway, or that maybe it would walk into another puddle again later.

Maybe the little ant was praying for a 2nd or 3rd chance to be saved. But I was mean and left it to die. Come on, I can't spend my whole night trying to save a dying ant.

But this little episode taught me about God. We are like that little ant which tries to fly but gets stuck with water in our wings. God helps us out, but we end up in another puddle.

The difference? Is that God is constantly watching us every minute, every second. When that window of opportunity comes, He dives in to help us. And that opportunity for God to intervene, comes when we pray or tell God, please help me and I can't do things on my own. From behind the scenes, He then sends us help and begins his restoring work in our lives. It could take years for changes to occur. And we become impatient when we do not see results.

On the other hand, when we close the opportunity (through disobedience, reluctance to pray, pride, sin, so forth) then He can only watch in horror as we walk into more puddles of water and inevitably cause our own death.

God, despite how tiny we are in this earth, came down to 'die' as a man, so that we would be saved. It is by the Power of the Holy Spirit that God became Man. Thinking of this, I can't help but wonder, how did God become man? Why? Why die for us, stupid death-loving little 'ants'?

If you are interested by now, read more from our Catechism of Catholic Church:

The Son of God Became Man

I. WHY DID THE WORD BECOME FLESH?


As for me and the little ant, I was sad to say, that I was no saviour to it. I was quite the devil's advocate. Try to save it and then relish in watching it die. But God - being God - amazes me. He will save us over and over again, despite how many puddles we walk into. God watches us all the time, not to prevent us from freedom, but to ensure that we remain free. He is always looking out for our GOOD - and our happiness.

Why then do we silly little ants, not TRUST in the Lord - our Saviour? He is the only one who would love and die for us unconditionally.

Aren't we all silly little ants?