When the Egyptian Army was thundering down on the Children of Israel as they stood before the Red Sea, the Bible says, “They were terrified and cried out to the Lord” (Exodus 14:10). It doesn’t take a wild imagination to feel their fear. But God had a solution for their dilemma. He told Moses, “stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water…and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land…and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.” (Exodus 14:15,21-22)
From Genesis to Revelation there are recorded stories of man’s dilemma becoming God’s opportunity. The bottom line is “nothing is impossible with God”. The question is do we understand that truth? Do we believe it? Do we really believe it?
Crabtree Valley Baptist Church has had its own dilemma’s over the years. There are those who have written this church off as doomed to failure. Yet, here we are! We’re still worshipping God. We’re still having Bible Studies with half the church in attendance on Wednesday nights. We’re still ministering to each other and even to those who are not members of the church. At Christmas time, 2018, we were wondering how we would pay our bills. God sent a special gift to get us out of the red. We’re still paying our bills, still helping people through our benevolence fund, still feeding people through Hope Pantry, still exceeding our mission goals, still ministering to children and youth as well as adults, still seeing visitors join us for worship and Bible study, and still seeing God’s blessings upon the Welcome House Refugee Ministry. And financially, in 2019, we had our best year of the past 5 years. Our Youth Ministry is stronger and there is a proposal before us to purchase a Van to enhance our ministries and outreach.
Scripture has many references to people not having eyes to see or ears to hear. It is a way of saying that we often do not pay attention to what God is saying or doing. Clara Scott, author and composer put prayer to music out of her concern that Christians make an intentional effort to hear God speak and to see God in action. The first lines of each stanza ask God to….
Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth Thou hast for me.
Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth Thou sendest clear.
Open my mouth, and let me bear gladly the warm truth everywhere.
We are already past the third week in January, 2020. Let us intentionally, purposefully, and faithfully look at what God is doing in our lives and in our church. Let us listen intently, prayerfully and expectantly to what God is saying to us. And let us joyfully, boldly and consistently move forward in faith speaking of how God turns our dilemmas into opportunities.
Jesus said, “blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. (Matthew 13:16)
In His Love, Charles
