Financial crunches sometimes reveal the unseen.
Ours was a financial crunch such as we hadn’t seen lately. The payment on our low-mileage used car was draining our bank account. We had a decision to make. As much as we hated to part with it, it would have to go back. In its place, we purchased an older vehicle of the same model with more miles. The seller advertised it as having 100,000 miles, and before we gave it a test drive, he told us that the odometer worked only periodically.
As we drove down the road, we discovered that he was right — at least in one respect. The odometer wasn’t showing anything at all. But then, suddenly, the mileage appeared. Although the owner had been truthful about the odometer, he hadn’t been about the mileage. Actually, 100,000 was really 202,000. Now we had another decision to make.
Three years later, we didn’t regret our decision to purchase it. We had no trouble, even though we rarely saw the odometer. Occasionally, it made an appearance — long enough for us to know that it was working and to make a mental note of the mileage so that we could tell the service attendant the next time when we had the oil changed. We trusted the unseen.
The prophet Elisha depended on the unseen when he was hounded by a foreign king who sought his life.
“When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. ‘Oh, sir, what will we do now?’ the young man cried to Elisha. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ Elisha told him. ‘For there are more on our side than on theirs!’ Then Elisha prayed, ‘O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!’ The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”
(2 Kings 6:15-17 NLT)
Elisha trusted the unseen.
The times when I’ve seen God’s hand at work in vivid colour are somewhat like the odometer on my car — rarely. But they come around regularly enough to let me know that He’s continually working behind the scenes.
Our lives are in His hands, and He is constantly working to form us into His Son’s image, to protect us from unforeseen danger, and to supply our needs — even if it’s an older model car with high mileage. Through explicit and inexplicable occurrences — as well as through the kindness of others — He leads us to trust His unseen hand.
God’s hand is not always observed, but He lovingly controls the world and faithfully works to provide for our needs. Are you trusting in the unseen?
Prayer: Father, we thank You that we can know that You are working behind the scenes, even when we can’t see Your hand. Amen.
Copyright © 2022, by Martin Wiles <mandmwiles@gmail.com>, first published on the PresbyCan Daily Devotional presbycan.ca .
Greenwood, South Carolina, USA
Reprinted from PresbyCan with author’s permission