Problems

Problems—everybody has them. I am not thinking of devastating crises like job loss or terminal illness or a house fire, but just ordinary day-to-day problems. They can be as large as hail doing a job on your car or as small as fleas on the dog. If you have none of these problems, then you have probably already died and gone to heaven!

Some problems come because we need to learn something. I bought a smaller car because I had the problem of not seeing very well out of a long, wide one. (I kept backing into things!) A friend started taking a water exercise class because her aching knees were a problem. A co-worker found that eating nuts created a dental problem, and she learned to decline. Many problems are quite simple once we address them, and there's no need to search for some deep, existential meaning in them.

Some problems come to help us find a different direction. A specific financial need propelled me into a job which I have found well-suited and rewarding. The refusal of a loan officer helped someone discern a truer calling than the proposed business venture. Being bumped off an airline flight enabled my friends to meet a lovely traveling companion. We have not necessarily erred in judgment or made poor choices, but the problem can be signaling, "Wait! Maybe there's a better way of doing this."

And some problems just are. They come to us as part of the human experience. A case of the sniffles or a traffic tie-up or a leak in the kitchen sink is not necessarily trying to teach you something or help you find the right direction—that is, unless you have been sleeping less than four hours a night or you were already late when you left for work or you've ignored the damp spot under the sink for a week. Then maybe there is indeed something significant about the problem you have!

So many problems! Some quipster said, "Mama told me there'd be days like this. She said there would be some even worse. She just didn't tell me there would be so many!" It's good to know that we have an "everyday" Jesus, not just for huge crises. Here is my personal paraphrase of Psalm 139:1-6: "O Lord, you know everything about me. You know when I sit down to leftovers for the third night in a row. You know when I stand up and my knees hurt. You know my thoughts even when I'm having anxious dreams. You see me when I travel into the traffic jam, and when I rest at home with the TV that isn't working right. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!"

MaryMartha

Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.