I left my house this morning, running late as usual, just to discover I had a flat tire. No fun! I was discouraged and started feeling sorry for myself because of course when something “bad” happens you automatically begin thinking the whole world is working against you and if anything else could ruin your day it will surely happen too! I was pretty defeated before the flat tire anyway. The last couple weeks it seemed I could only see all the “bad” happening around me, my housework piling up, finances not looking good, tricky child-care situations, misbehaving rambunctious kids and overall stressful occurrences of life. I was definitely feeling like I couldn’t take one more “bad” thing, then a flat tire! Bummer.
So there I sat at the end of my driveway waiting on my wonderful husband to come to my rescue with the air compressor. Then it hit me! I hadn’t given God any of my time. I hadn’t read my bible or even prayed because I was in so much of a hurry to get the boys ready and get out the door. So since I didn’t have my bible with me, I searched on my phone “KJV daily verse”. The first one on the list was Psalm 118.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
O how guilty I felt! The Lord is good, and I hadn’t even so much as thanked him that I woke up this morning, or that I was breathing, or for my children’s health, or for the fact that we had food to eat for breakfast. Much less had I thanked God that I had a job to go to or that my son can go to school, or that I had a car to drive even if it did have a flat tire at the moment. Furthermore, I should have thanked God that I had a husband who would take care of my flat tire so that I didn’t have to get down in the wet grass and dirt in my nice dressy outfit. Better yet, when I picked out my matching (brand new, even) outfit I hadn’t even managed to utter a word of thanks to God for my closet full of clothes. How overwhelmed with thankfulness I was.
I kept on reading to find in verse #5-6:
I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
Wow! I had been pouring out my troubles to God for the past week or so, telling Him how defeated I was feeling. I was concerned over my job, my finances, my duties as a wife and mother and just felt like I had been failing miserably at everything I was responsible for doing. Here my Lord was working in my life, answering my distress call by the way of a flat tire! Who would have ever thought? So my situation in all of my problems hadn’t changed at all physically, but spiritually they were altogether different. I realized that God was in control of all my “problems” and He would take care of me as long as I would stay “on His side”. Why should I fear? Why should I worry? I am the Lord’s and He is mine, He heard my cry and answered me. With God, He can change your whole outlook on your situation, give you peace during your heartaches and trials, and you will see that your situation really isn’t “bad” after all. When God saves us, we are His for eternity. So when times are tough, or when you’re facing the impossible, remember that God is in control and He is on our side. Whom shall we fear? God will keep us for eternity and no man can remove us from Him.
Although, my heart was overflowing, I continued reading,
23 This is the Lord‘s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
I’ve determined in my heart that my flat tire this morning was marvelous! That’s because it was my Lord’s doing and everything He does is marvelous. He gave me this day and He gave me a flat tire and I am going to rejoice all day and thank the Lord for it! Because of my flat tire, I got a moment alone with God and He revealed to me how my situation was different from what I had perceived. He gave me just the scripture I needed and convicted my heart for not giving Him the thanks and praise that He deserves. So today, I am going to praise the Lord. In everything. All day. Because sometimes He has to use a flat tire to get my attention and honestly, that’s pretty pathetic. I should have been praising and thanking Him already.
Please read all of Psalm 118! You won’t regret it!
To read online, click here: Psalm 118
Amazing Things Can Happen 