Ministry and Care

The following devotion was prepared by Jasmine S to share with the students of Middle School. 

It’s so easy to ask God for gifts and blessings when there are blessings in plain sight.  For example, we might walk into a place of worship thinking about asking God for specific things, but it’s so easy to miss or overlook the fact we were able to walk into the building in the first place and that in itself is a blessing.  This reminds me of a story I once heard: 

Once upon a time, there was a man who was in danger of drowning in flood waters.  The man prayed to God for help.  Soon a boat came by.  The people in the boat offered to rescue him, but the man declined.  “I have prayed to God,” he said, “And I am sure that God will come to my rescue.”  A little later, a bigger boat came by but still the man declined to be rescued. Finally, a helicopter hovered above him and dropped him a lifeline.  Once again the man refused the offer of rescue.  “God will save me!” he shouted.  Eventually he succumbed to the flood waters and went to heaven.  Upon arriving there, the man asked God why he didn’t save him.  God told him he had tried to save him with two boats and a helicopter, all of which the man had declined.   

The point of the story is this: God provides things for us that we don’t even realise.   Sometimes, we need to stop waiting for God to do something miraculous and use the resources God has already given us. 

All day long I will tell the wonderful things you do to save your people.  But you have done much more than I could possibly know.  Psalm 71:15