Fire Extinguisher by Dr. Juan Harrison
Fire Extinguisher
The Bible says the rain falls on the just and the unjust. A bumper sticker says it a little plainer. Job watched in the Old Testament when God allowed Satan to take away every earthly thing except his wife. She even told him to curse God and die. At that point most of us ordinary humans would probably be ready to throw in the towel. When Satan finally realized he’d met a believer where faith couldn’t be shaken, he gave it up and God doubled everything for Job for his faithfulness.
Maybe you were in the middle of one of your 45 trips for radiation, or maybe you’re at a child’s funeral with your hand on the casket asking God why He allowed your child to be taken. Maybe you’re sleeping back-to-back as a wedge of iciness seems to have divided the bed into halves.
The Devil knows how to hit you when you’re down. The wife may find herself caring for an elderly parent or in-law, dealing with a family health issue, trying to get everything ready for a holiday, and trying to cope with some sort of family conflict that threatens to upset the family’s equilibrium. Seems like trouble wants to attack when our cup runneth over and the stress is about to explode your head and heart.
Most of us ordinary mortal human beings will not rob a bank or have a hot torrid love affair. As a guy watching my dad mess up, I remind us men of the high price we would pay in losing the love and respect of our kids, especially our sons who may have looked up to us until we messed up. I remind us guys to pull up a mental picture of all we would lose for a brief lapse in good judgment. It only takes one stumble to destroy a lifetime reputation.
It seems these days that Satan is taking great delight as he watches overburdened, poorly communicating, time deprived, financially challenged families. Even as everyone in the family may be doing their best to hold things together, the Devil and his demons are working overtime trying to pull things apart at the seams. Job was a just man who had a strong faith in God in the middle of the strong wind that came and took his family away. Today us ordinary mortal guys with one tenth of Job’s faith are fighting tooth and nail to try and protect our children and grandchildren amid storms less visible but more subtle than Job’s battles.
My wife often tells me she feels weary. A lot of us feel likewise. Stress we’re not aware of eats at our very core. Worry is a sin we’re all guilty of as we try to take God’s place and solve all our problems. We kinda keep God on a shelf like a fire extinguisher just in case we can’t put out the fire ourselves. Life isn’t gonna get any easier. Might want to loosen the lid on that container we’ve kept God in and think about popping off the lid and letting Him take a crack at our troubles.
By Dr. Juan Harrison
