A friend called me up the other day because she was having problems with her smart phone. She was unable to get her email. Not on just one account, but the three or four she had coming into that phone. Every time she would go to check email, an error message would pop up. Since I had previously owned a similar type of phone, she called me up to seek assistance. I knew I wouldn’t be able to help her on the phone, I’m a very visual person, .I need to see the phone to try and fix it. I knew the best thing to do would be to pay her a visit. Well, I was going to be in the area anyway o my way to a class at the university. After exchanging pleasantries I went right to work on her phone. I tried the email…got an error, turned the phone off then on again…got the error, took the battery out waited a few seconds then replaced it and turned the phone back on…got the error, I even deleted the email accounts and re-configured them and guess what?!?… yup, got the error. I was out of ideas and totally defeated, beaten by this little piece of plastic that I held in my hand. I simply didn’t have enough time or more importantly knowledge to fix the thing. I told her she should take it to the cell phone store where the professionals could really help her.

            I talked to my friend the next day and she had indeed taken her phone into the store. I asked her if it was fixed and she said it only took the guy about 60 seconds to diagnose the problem and fix the phone. She said I don’t know what he did but I know I’m getting emails again. I replied, it’s like that with the really neat apps I have on my phone. I don’t know how they work but they do, and I’m glad they do.

            I think it’s like that with God. Too often we try to fix a problem on our own, not understanding its root cause and coming up with solutions that just don’t work. Eventually we come to an understanding that through it all we really have no business ignoring God’s Word and what He has to say about the human condition and the problems (trials) we face each day. Additionally, sometimes we’ll encounter something that seems simple but upon closer inspection we realize that we truly cannot understand it, we have to come to the place where we realize that there is a superior designer who created it. When up against a problem, go to the Master Designer, Jesus Christ, for help and when considering something we may take for granted like the billions of stars in the sky or the fact that breathing takes no thought on our part or that your heart beats tirelessly throughout the day. Psalm 139 3-6 says, “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it”. Ecclesiastes 1:5 also states, “5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all. Give praise to the One whose knowledge is too wonderful for us to understand. 

Recently, I was sitting in the studio chair listening to a song about being victorious and I thought to myself, I am victorious at least I feel like a victor. You see I was feeling pretty good about myself. A couple nights before I celebrated a great come behind win after playing Scrabble with my family, I took my last final exam of the semester and although I felt unprepared for the exam, the answers came easily and I believe I did well. As I left the classroom following the exam my professor handed to me a paper I had written and had forgotten about.  I saw that I had gotten an “A”. I was really feeling pretty good about myself. I thought to myself I AM VICTORIOUS! Then, while listening to that song, still playing on the air,  I felt the reality of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. You see, without Christ I can do nothing. My victory is not really mine but rather it is His victory. Only through Christ do I have the ability to accomplish the things that I do. Philippians 4:13 came to mind where scripture says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me”. Now there’s a humbling thought. If I can do all things through Christ, then without Christ the opposite must be true. Without Christ I can do nothing, nothing of consequence as it relates to all things eternal. Sure, we may have the appearance of doing great things but in the end as Solomon says, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind”. (Ecc 1:14) I had to re-focus and give God the glory for the things he has allowed me to do. We truly serve a great God. Give Him the glory!