God Bless America?

God Bless America

I want to tell you a story today about a young man I know. It started out on his sixteenth birthday. His father bought him a mustang. Not a new one but nice. Not too long after that the young man was in a wreck. It wasn’t his fault, and the car was still drivable so he went on driving it. He went on driving it so much that he forgot to put oil in it. Then one night it happened…. Threw a rod. The next car his gracious father bought him was a 1978 Mustang Cobra. It was a really nice car. Then he wrecked that car. He asked his father for forgiveness so he fixed the car for him. Then a lady, not his fault, but probably an accident that could have been avoided hit him. So his father once again repaired his car. Guess what happened next. Yep, you guessed it. He wrecked it again. The young man walked for quite a while. Then his father nice as he was gave him his truck, a 1985 Chevy Silverado. How long did it take? It wasn’t very much later then the young man wrecked the truck. Nothing major just a small bend in the rear bumper, but still a wreck. Once again the young man was forgiven and sent back on his way by his father. Trucks however do require a certain level of maintenance, and it wasn’t long till the truck was in bad shape. Then the young man got a job, and decided he needed transportation to get back and forth to his new job. So he called dear old dad, and dad helped him make the down payment on the vehicle. The young man finally realized how much the dad had sacrificed to help him. So, he set his mind not to wreck, or mistreat this car, and so I didn’t.

So you see I had often taken for granted my fathers love and mercy on me and on my backside. Seven different incidents in seven years of driving saw me take for granted all the love my dad had for me. I would always come back he would forgive me and it wouldn’t change me I would go out and do it again.

I look back on my life and see those events and I relate them to something. Look if you will at the book of Judges. This entire book relates the dark days in the history of Israel. We can identify within this book seven instances of Israel turning away, seven instances of bondage, and seven instances of deliverance. Turn with me if you will to Judges chapter 3 starting with v.10 and ending with v.15. So you see they took God and everything that he had done for them from the time of Moses to the time of Joshua for granted and began to worship the God’s of those around them. V.16-Then God raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. This kind of reminds me of myself. I’ve been in a situation before, and then God will get me out of it. When I needed him he was there. Then I go back to relying on my own strength again, and guess what happens? I get put right back in the same situation again. Okay God, you’ve done it before, please forgive me and get me out. So God gets me out of it. Okay God, I can handle it from here. Then I’m right back in it again.

Thanks for the car dad. Dad I’ve wrecked the car can you fix it? Sure son. Thanks dad I can handle it from here. Then I wreck it again. Dad can you fix it? Sure son. Wreck. Dad can you fix the car? Sure son.

Chapter 3 verse 7

Chapter 3 verse 12

Chapter 3 verse 31

Chapter 4 verse 1

Chapter 6 verse 1

Chapter 10 verse 6

Chapter 13 verse 1

Now I’d like to tell you another story. I’ve told you before that this is a guidebook for life. That God has created this book for us to use in patterning our lives. Hopefully you use the book as God intends and learn lessons from it, because I was always told, “You don’t have enough time to make all the mistakes yourself, so you might as well learn from somebody else’s.”

American Revolution-Dear God help us win, we’re fighting for you.

What happened? Deliverance-Okay God we got it now.

Civil War-Dear God help us through this

What happened? Deliverance-Okay God we got it now.

World War I-God save us from the Germans

What happened? Deliverance-Okay God we got it now.

World War 2-God please help us in our time of need