Here Comes Trouble Again! # 1b

Illus: Have you ever been riding down a smooth super highway and found yourself going faster and faster as you followed the crowd? Before you realized it, you were going 20 or 30 miles over the speed limit.

Illus: A man was speeding down a highway, feeling secure in a string of other cars all traveling at the same speed. However, as they passed a speed trap, he got nailed with an infrared speed detector and was pulled over.

The officer handed him the citation, received his signature and was about to walk away when the man asked, "Officer, I know I was speeding, but I don't think it's fair. There were plenty of other cars around me who were going just as fast, so why did I get the ticket?"

"Ever go a fishin'?" the policeman suddenly asked the man.

"Ummm, yeah..." the startled man replied.

The officer grinned and added, "Did you ever catch 'em all?"

In spiritual matters, when things are going smooth we just sail through life with the greatest of ease. We soon find ourselves violating God’s commandments by not putting Him first in our lives. God puts these little speed bumps in our life (called troubles) to slow us down. And these little speed bumps we call trouble can be a blessing in disguise.

Illus: A Christian man was in the hospital with a serious heart condition. After he was there a couple of days and away from the fast paced life he was living, God began to get his attention. He began to realize how Satan had filled his life with all kinds of things, and completely squeezed God out of his life. He said to his pastor, “This hospital visit has been one of the best things that could happen to me. I have had time to pray and seek God, and when I get out of here I plan to slow down in life and make some major changes spiritually!”

Listen, trouble is as much a part of our life as goodness is.

Illus: We all know about trouble! Someone said that you know it's going to be a bad year when:

• The Government notifies you that your Social Security number has been revoked.

• As the moving van starts to unload next door, the first four items down the ramp are dirt bikes.

• Your 14-year-old daughter insists Jesus never preached against pierced noses.

• Your new boss asks if they've filled your old position yet.

• Your pacemaker is recalled by the manufacturer.

• Your church treasurer says, "The IRS called me the other day about some of your donation totals."

(From The Christian Herald January 1988)

None of us live in a perfect world!

Illus: Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

The problems began when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She'd barely said "hello" when "sssopp!" Chippie got sucked in. The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water.

Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do ... she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air.

Poor Chippie never knew what hit him. A few days after the trauma, the reporter who'd initially written about the event contacted Chippie's owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn't sing much anymore – he just sits and stares."

(from In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado. Word 1991 p 11.)

Everybody has problems…EVERYBODY! Job said, in Job 5:7, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

Illus: Vance Havner, a Baptist evangelist, related the story of an elderly lady who was greatly disturbed by her many troubles, both real and imaginary. Finally she was told in a kindly way by her family, "Grandma, we've done all we can do for you. You'll just have to trust God for the rest." A look of utter despair spread over her face as she replied, "Oh, dear, has it come to that?" Havner commented, "It always comes to that, so we might as well begin with that!"

We saw in the last message that TROUBLE MAKES US STRONG.

Illus: An old Chinese Proverb says, “A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor a man made perfect without trials.”