Where I work, in the lab where we work on Q-fever under high containment, we have a huge autoclave which is big enough to walk in.If you know me, I'm 6 foot 4 and have to crouch to walk in this autoclave. The outside of the autoclave as we see it is a large round metal door with a large handle, sort of like the old steering wheels on boats (like a pirates steering wheel), but metal and very heavy.
When we have to open this autoclave, we usually need 2 of our strong guys to go in to open it. On Friday, I got sent into this high containment lab, where we have to wear a full facility suit - none of our own clothes, and have to shower out. This time, I was sent in by myself to open this autoclave, so naturally, I wondered how I was going to do this!!
As I was entering I said a bit of a prayer that went a bit like this; "God can You somehow loosen the autoclave door so I can open it by myself". Immediately I had a vision of inside the facility, a huge angel loosening the autoclave for me!
When I got inside, I walked up to it, pushed down one side of this metal steering wheel with ONE hand... and it opened!! Usually, as I said, takes two big guys to open, but did an Angel help me, as I saw?!
I know God sends His Angels to help His people, we hear about it often in the Bible. I just thank God that He hears our prayers, no matter how big or small they are, He hears us, and shows us He cares!
Thank You God for hearing us and caring enough for us to send Your help in times of need!!
"Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word."
Psalm 103:20
15 comments:
How awesome is your god - he sends an angel to help you open a door but forgets to send one to help a child being abused. What a great god you worship.
What did you do about it?? Dont blame God if you can do something yourself!
Funny how quickly we blame God for stuff when we don't respect Him or obey Him, or even thank Him, but just blame Him!!
'Instead of complaining bout the darkness, light a candle' - meaning - don't blame others, do something bout it yourself!
Anonymous2, I'm not blaming God for anything. I'm just trying to find some sense in the idea that God would answer the trivial yet ignore the important. Any ideas?
You've got a really good point there anon 1! Its made me think all day.
Heres a couple of my thoughts...
we have free will. who gets abused depends on peoples sinfulness.
some get abused, some get spared. How does God choose who to save and who not to save?
Does God always give us a way out of trouble? If yes then we need to listen more. If no, then how does He choose?
We are constantly warned in the Bible to be always alert to whats happening. Would this stop Christians who are on the look out from being abused as they see it coming and act accordingly?
is there times when God will act and others when Hes waiting for us to act?
How many of life's circumstances are produced by God compared to the natural way things are just going about...
no answers at the moment... But I can say ask God. Thats what I'm gonna be doing. And I want to affirm that God acts in big ways, saving ways and small ways.
Yeah, I agree, it seems to come back to human free will, as I'm sure you've heard before!
Since He has given us free will, he won't always interfere, but as we read about in Exodus 3:7, God hears our cries and sometimes answers how we want, other times, maybe it seems not at all!
Good question though! As Anon2 hints at, sometimes God want's us, His people, Christians, to be His hands etc, to do something on His behalf - social justice stuff!!
Don't only remember the children being abused, but all the people starving, wives being abused and mistreated, the women/children/men all in slavery against their will... the list goes on - the world isn't how God wanted it, but we made it how it is by our own choices.
I pray for the children being abused though, I pray they recieve a way out and that God will send His angels to protect them.
Why does God let bad things happen to good people... the age old question that drives everybody nuts... why would God let His followers die excrusiating deaths, be put in prison, their children abused and mistreated?
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they essentially took God out of the equation and said, 'We don't need you, we can look after ourselves'. Continually by sinning we keep taking God out of the equation. You take bibles and religious education out of schools and all of a sudden there's knives, guns, drugs running rampat. You start teaching kids 'safe sex' instead of abstinance and 12 year old girls are getting pregnant and AIDS is spreading like an epidemic.
Why does God not help the abused? Have you asked Him to?
God equips us and never gives us more than we can handle. If we cling to Him nothing is too hard, nothing is to scarey, nothing is impossible.
According to your theory Tish the child can handle the abuse, even when they pray to God for help yet receive none, yet poor Simon and his heavy door gets an angel coming on by to help.
I just happened to come across this article while looking for something else strangely, which was on this topic of suffering!
The link is http://www.tentmaker.org/Dew/Dew6/D6-WhyDoesGodAllowSuffering.html
Hope this gives some answers or another perspective! I'm not sure we will ever fully know the whole answer though!
Maybe handle isn't the right word... He won't put us in a place where the pressure is so much we literally or metaphorically spontaneuously combust.
If there's a child being abused and they cry out to God He will answer but not always in the way we expect. There are two people I know who had abusive parents. One was sent to foster homes and finally adopted with her sister by a lovely Christian couple. The other when things got too rough was able to hop the back fence and run to stay at her friends Aunt and Uncle's place til things cooled off. Even though the second wasn't 'delivered' completely from that environment doesn't mean God didn't hear the plea for help.
After all who better to minister to the abused than someone who has come out of an abusive situation and come out of it stronger.
God's plans are bigger than our own. Look at Job, he had bad thing after bad thing happen to him.
If you want to make excuses in order to believe that the church/Bible lies when it says, 'God is a God of Love and Power and He hears our prayers and answers them and He is able to do imeasureably more than we could know or understand', go ahead. God can deliver, in more ways than one, the abused child, He could even use you!!!
So do you believe an angel helped Simon open a door? If you do, then how do adequately explain why He does not send an angel to protect and/or help those in real need when they call out to Him?
Lets turn that question to God in prayer and see what He says...
As for my thoughts right now, I cant rule out that it wasnt an angel just because bad things happen to people.
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17
Infact, the whole first chapter may have some answers...
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=66&chapter=1&version=31&context=chapter
Who says He doesn't? I've heard many stories about those who in there time of need have had unexplainable protection or help. God sends His angels out to do all kinds of things.
Just look at the bible when God sends an angel to bust Peter out of jail or the angel that went to see Daniel but was detained for 21 days.
I believe that God would send an angel to a child in need. Also I believe God will send people. But most importantly He is always with us.
By the way I am enjoying this discussion, what good excercise for our beliefs and faith in Christ Jesus!!!
If I see a child being abused and do nothing, then see Simon struggling to open a door and I help him, what would you think of me as person?
I would think you were human.
I see your point though, how can we believe that a loving God would help a person open a door when there are thousands of children being abused that there's, as far as we can tell, no angel rescue for.
But I can't believe that God wouldn't be helping, protecting or sending angels to abused children when he answers our 'easy' prayers.
If you've called out to Jesus and He hasn't answered how you thought He shouldn't doesn't mean He wouldn't want to. God easily could send an angel to miraculously protect everybody but that's not the world we live in. The human race as a collective whole made a descision not to allow God access to our lives as a whole. We need to be praying and giving God back control. God can and will send His angels to protect, I believe it, I believe He will even for abused children and Simon's that can't open doors.
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