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God's Gentle Care

                                      

 

GOD’S GENTLE CARE

 

You are trying to find a cool spot to relax in your outdoor lounge chair, but the sun is stationed at 2 o’clock and beaming down pulling moisture through your pores trying to help cool you off.  The air is still and stifling.  Fanning and drinking iced lemonade doesn’t do much to lower the temperature of your body, and you are about to just give it up and hunt the comfort of the humming indoor air conditioner.

 Then it happens.  First you only hear the soft rustling of the leaves and see the barely perceptible movement.  Then you feel it—the gentle breeze that sweeps over you bringing wonderful relief as it cools your moist skin.  Ah!  Relish the moment.  It is one of God’s gentle blessings.

 The thought first occurred to me as I was headed for the post office a few days ago.  I had two letters to mail; related to each other to clear up a business matter.  They were going to different addresses with a copy of one letter in both envelopes.  I had made my way from the car through the parking lot and was nearly to the steps to go in the building, when I happened to look at the addresses showing through the windows on the envelopes and discovered that the same address was showing on both of them.  I had made a mistake with one so that the wrong address ended up on top to show through the window which would have just added to the confusion I was trying to clear up.

 From somewhere deep inside me, the thought came to my mind, “A gentle blessing from God, that I caught the mistake before posting the letters.”  The thought began to build and snowballed into a catalog of the “gentle blessings” that I have every day.  Some so swift and gentle that I probably allow many of them to pass unnoticed, just taken for granted.

 God doesn’t “toot a horn” nor give a blast of a trumpet every time He comes our way with gentle blessings.  We have to be alert to His gentle care to catch them.  We have to have our ears in tune spiritually to hear the brush of angel wings as they bring gentle blessings of God’s gentle care.

Oh yes, He comes sometimes like a mighty army when the occasion demands it.  His ministers are a “flame of fire” (Hebrews 1:17) as they go forth to do His will, but sometimes they are like the gentle breeze as they quietly go about the Master’s business deflecting fiery darts that we don’t even see coming.  How many “bloopers” have we been saved from by God’s gentle care?  How many careless words have been stilled by some “accidental” interruption before we could utter them?

 Paul thought He knew exactly where he was supposed to go next, Asia; but the Holy Ghost had other ideas (Acts 16).  We don’t know how “gentle” the directions were, but He got the message:  Bypass Asia.  So he decided to go to Bithynia.  Now Paul was a man who listened to the Holy Ghost with disregard to public opinion or disagreeing companions, and he was prepared to go to Bithynia.  But the gentle care of God got his attention when the Holy Ghost again said, “No.”  If he had not been in tune with the gentle care of God, he might have missed the vision of the man who pleaded that they “Come over into Macedonia and help us.”

God could take a “big stick” and beat us into submission if He cared to.  That’s not what He is looking for though.  He prefers to guide us with His gentle care if we would but listen intently. 

 After his magnificent victory over all the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, Elijah became despondent even of his life at the threat of Queen Jezebel (2 Kings 19).  God had given him the privilege of turning the spotlight on the God of Heaven who showed His might and power by answering by fire when the 450 prophets of Baal had failed to even get a spark.  When Elijah slew the false prophets, Jezebel swore that she would do the same to Elijah and he was running scared. 

 Hiding under a juniper tree, he fell asleep.  A gentle blessing of God came to him as an angel touched him to awaken him with his lunch already prepared.  “Arise and eat,” he was told.  After his snack, he went back to sleep, and later he was touched by the angel with another meal prepared for him. 

 Even with these gentle blessings, Elijah was still despairing.  He hid in a cave and complained to God that, though he had been faithful, here he was the only faithful one left and his life in danger.  The gentle care of God!  He knew how discouraged Elijah was.  He called him to stand upon the mountain and caused him to witness a tornado that tore the rocks in pieces and then an earthquake and a flaming fire.  But, guess what!  God was not in them!  No, not there; but the still (calm, quiet), small voice that came next was a gentle blessing from God.  The gentle care of God let him know that   assignment.

In his despair, Elijah might have missed the gentle blessings of God, thinking he should look for God in the strong wind, earthquake or the fire.  Not finding God there, he could easily have missed the gentle blessings that followed and sent him on his way to his next appointment..

 With all the clamor of life around us, we need to stop, look and listen for those gentle blessings that accompany us each day.  How many times have our feet been watched that they not stumble?  No doubt, far more than we realize. 

 Sure, we want the clash of cymbals and the grandeur that God displays at times.  Wouldn’t miss it for the world!  But let us not miss the gentle care of God that is lovingly watching over us, moving obstacles, sending a friend just when we need them, guarding and guiding us heavenward. 

 

Quiet!  Listen for the gentle blessings like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer day!

......Delores

  

 

 

 

              

 

              

 

 

 

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