An Amazing God

As I pulled up to the stop light in my old Honda minivan (this van was an absolute answer to prayer just about 8-weeks before this story), a young high school student pulled up right next to me. As we sat there waiting for the light to turn green, something happened in my soul. There I was just moments earlier, enjoying my morning commute and satisfied to the core, but when that guy pulled up in his brand new sports car, all of a sudden my soul was no longer at rest. I began looking around at my “answer to prayer” and began to take note of all the little imperfections my used car had.

Then I began to secretly make fun of the young driver next to me murmuring stuff like, “I bet his rich daddy bought that for him,” and “I bet he doesn’t even know what to do with a car like that.” I wish I could say that my thoughts stopped there. The next step of my dissatisfaction was to start complaining to God. I remember thinking, “God, I go to church. I share the gospel. I tithe. I try to be a good husband and father. God, what’s up? I can’t believe that he’s driving that and I’m driving THIS!” There at the stoplight, an amazing thing happened. My soul went from a place of 100% satisfaction in all that God had ever done for me, and it wandered off to a place of dissatisfaction in God and what he had not done for me. Physically, I became grumpy, irritated, and my blood pressure began to rise.

A few hours later I was reading through my Bible and I stumbled upon Psalm 116:7 which states, “Return unto they rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.” Now please don’t stare at me like you have never had this happen in your life. Maybe it wasn’t a car, but what about someone else’s house, vacation, job, or dress. This spiritual attack can happen so fast that we don’t even realize it most times. I’m thankful that it isn’t just me that has this problem or just you, but even the Psalmist had this issue from time to time, and when he did, he would tell is soul to “return unto thy rest.” You see, at that stop light my soul jumped up from it’s place of rest in the all-powerful, all-loving, gracious, giving, God of Heaven and wandered off to a place of doubt, mistrust, and dissatisfaction. Hey! The next time you find yourself dissatisfied with what God is doing in your life, remember this verse and tell your soul, “get back over here and rest.”

Why? “Because the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.” No, you may not have everything everyone else has, but you have so much to be thankful for that there is never cause for complaint. Every day God gives us our being (John 1:3). He gives us a load of benefits (Psalm 68:19), and he always gives bountifully (Psalm 84:11b).

Take a moment and count God’s blessings in your life.