Today’s post comes to you from the interior of my car. No, I am not typing and driving, though some of you would not put it past me. Hubster is at the helm, and we are traveling to the funeral of one of his long-time friends, a dear one he has known for over 45 years. A dear one who now rests in the arms of his Savior. And to Jim’s friends and family today feels like a sledgehammer day.
What is a miracle?
Some would say that it is some grandiose event that causes people to
gasp in amazement at the sheer goodness of it.
These are flagrant, outrageous miracles.
Some miracles ARE like that…stupefying.
Often, a miracle is defined as God doing what we want Him to do in a situation
that threatens to beat us into the ground, leaving us lying there, a bloody
mess.
The greatest majority of miracles, though, go unrecognized,
unseen. Ann Voskamp reminds us of Naomi
as an example of a sister who had been so hammered by the heart-rending events
of her life, she was blind to the miracle unfolding around her. I can’t self-righteously condemn Naomi
because I have reacted the same way to adversity, haven’t you? Been so wracked with pain that I could not
see God’s hand of redemption, could not see how He was using my situation for
His glory, could not see how He would ever, ever restore what had been lost?
The other night I watched the autobiographical movie,
produced by Dolly Parton, called Coat of
Many Colors. There was a Naomi
story, for sure. Dolly was about 8 when
her mother became pregnant with her 9th child. (I may be misremembering the numbers...) She and her husband had been very fertile,
and Mrs. Parton had birthed a new baby just about every year for several
years. Still, the family was very excited
about the new baby on the way. Mrs.
Parton had told Dolly this baby would be “hers” to help raise. They had guessed he would be a boy, and they
had named him “Larry”. God, in His sovereignty,
chose to call Larry home, before he could fully develop. Larry died shortly after birth. What a sledgehammer moment! In addition to that, the Partons were, as
Dolly’s daddy described it, “the second poorest family in Sevier County”. But, the truth which dragged Dolly’s mother
down the most was the knowledge that her beloved husband was not a believer in
Jesus Christ. All of these circumstances
conspired to throw her into a deep depression and to rip apart her relationship
with her husband and family.
When she began to emerge from this, she took the baby
blanket she had made for Larry, ripped and rearranged it, and made a “coat of
many colors”, a patchwork coat, for Dolly.
Such a beautiful picture of how God takes the most broken pieces and
weaves them into something new and spectacular.
Dolly had her own Naomi road to walk, as she grieved for her baby
brother. It took her a long time to see
God’s hand at work. What Satan meant for
evil, God transformed for good. Mrs.
Parton’s gifted daughter went on to become the songbird God had created her to
be, one who has inspired millions.
God delights in doing His greatest works with the least “resources”. I’m reminded of that verse, “He has chosen
the foolish things of this world to confound the mighty.”
For many, the “holiday season” is particularly brutal; the
hammer hits particularly hard. JOY is
abundant, swirling around the broken like a suffocating mist.
It is in our own
personal weaknesses that we must look for His miraculous power. He has not left or abandoned us in those
Naomi times. Just as Advent is the promise
of His coming, just as He brought Great Light to a hopeless people, those “who
walked in darkness”, He is busy, doing His impossible, perfect work. Ann says, “Brilliant people don’t deny the
dark; they are the ones who never stop looking for His light in everything.” I don’t think she means “brilliant” in the
sense of “extremely smart”. I think she
is referring to those who are so radiantly filled with Jesus, the Light of
Life, that they shine brilliantly, resplendently, exploding with God’s Spirit, the
Divine Sledgehammer who is able to break all darkness into pieces.
Father, I love the
story of Ruth, Naomi, Boaz, Obed, Jesse and David. Out of one woman’s greatest loss, your blessings
came rolling on, like a tsunami wave.
And now, she is known not as Naomi the Bitter, but as Naomi the Blessed,
Naomi the Great-Great-Grandmother of David, the greatest king the Hebrews had
known, the one who was only eclipsed in glory by his descendant, the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. What
redemption! What restoration! What glory! May His blessed name be forever
praised, amen.
Source:
Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.
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