The Providential Workings of a Faithful Father
The Providential Workings of a Faithful Father
Let me tell you a story about a faithful Father who delights in giving good gifts to His children...
This past Wednesday, I was watching the birds feed in our front yard, and glancing across the street at our neighbors’ house, I found myself missing our old neighbors who used to live there.
You see, they moved away last year — not far away, but out of our neighborhood. Their grown daughter and her husband now live in their old house, so we still see our old neighbors from time to time, whenever they stop by to visit their children. And it’s always a delight when that happens, because over the three years we were blessed to call them our neighbors, we’d grown very fond of them, and they, of us!
As I stood there, staring out our front window, it dawned on me that I hadn’t seen our old neighbors in quite some time, and my heart began to hurt. There was a longing, within me, to see them again. But I wouldn’t give it a second thought until the following afternoon — until after it happened…
Early the next morning, after finishing a job across town, I was planning to stop by Walmart when my tummy suddenly became extremely unhappy.
“Perfect,” I thought, as the contents of my bowels began to churn violently. I considered whether or not I should skip the grocery store and head straight home instead, but it was going to be an abnormally busy day, and knew that having to go back out later for groceries was going to take longer than just stopping on the way home.
Nevertheless, I ultimately resolved that it would be better to just go back to the house and take care of business in the privacy of my own bathroom, for everyone’s sake. But I was annoyed, to say the least.
I finally made my way to Walmart later in the afternoon, shopping list in hand. I’d asked my husband Nathan if he needed or wanted anything from the store that morning, and he’d asked if I could pick up some ice cream for him. Easy enough.
I referenced my shopping list at least a dozen times. “I’ll save the ice cream for last,” I kept telling myself. But I was nearly back home again when I suddenly realized I’d completely forgotten to get ice cream — the one thing my husband had asked for.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I told myself, growing increasingly frustrated by yet another set back.
I considered turning around and heading back to Walmart, but that made little sense.
“I can just swing by Publix real quick,” I told myself. “It will cost a bit more, but it’ll save time and gas. And I’m not about to tell Nathan, ‘Oh sorry, I forgot to get the one thing you asked for from the grocery store.’”
And so, to Publix I went, peeved with myself and with how my day was going. But as entrance doors to Publix slid open, my day grew exponentially better…
Standing right there in front of me were my old neighbors, donning delighted smiles and greeting me like a long-lost friend! We hugged and chatted excitedly, and when it was time to part ways, we expressed our gratefulness for the encounter!
And it was only afterward, on the drive home, that I remembered the day before, staring out the window at their old home and longing to see them again.
The sad thing is, it never even crossed my mind to ask God to make it happen.
But He did it anyway.
And I realize looking back, had one thing gone differently on Thursday, it never would have happened. All those annoyances — the upset stomach, the forgotten ice cream, the set backs to my plans — were really the providential workings of a faithful Father who saw me staring out the window on Wednesday, and cared about the longings of my faithless heart.
Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. - Psalm 37:3-4 (CSB)
if we are faithless, [God] remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. - 2 Timothy 2:13 (CSB)
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