You should not see my car right now. It is supposed to be shiny maroon but instead it is a dull gray. There are no shiny spots because all is crusted with winter salt. When I sit in it I think I can actually hear the salt eating away at the chassis and body. It’s ten years old and still does not show any rust. I wonder how much longer I will be so fortunate. Perhaps I am the recipient of a two and a half thousand year old promise. “I will prevent pests (rust) from devouring your crops (car), and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 3:11
I would like to think so. In Malachi 3 God promises to pour blessings out of the windows of heaven on us if we are faithful. Someone might easily say it has nothing to do with that. The reason is it is a well-made car. There seems to always be a way to take credit away from God. Perhaps God wants it that way. It would be so easy for Him to do things that would be positively beyond doubt. But He seems to want us to demonstrate faith. Faith seems to be essential to our spiritual growth. When a woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment she was instantly healed and He said, “Your faith has made you well.” Again He said to a man whose sight was restored, “You faith has enabled you to see.” And in Mark 9 He told a father that only faith could help his son, to which the man said, “I believe, help my unbelief.”
Could it be in our scientific age of inductive reasoning that we too often explain things away and cheat God of His glory and ourselves of wondrous blessings that would come if we only believed?
Written by Roger Bothwell on February 24, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org