Why Am I Here?
Why am I here?
I suppose we’ve all asked that question before, when we’re in an uncomfortable situation that we’d rather not be in.
You’re in the middle of Christmas traffic. Why am I here? You’re running late for work. Why am I here? You’re in a bad relationship. Why am I here? You’re body is rattled with sickness. Why am I here? Maybe you’re dealing with depression. Why? Why? Why? I remember when we were living in Kentucky and my precious step-daughter came to visit for Christmas, from Texas. The gifts had been exchanged, the meals eaten and it was time to get Sarah back on the plane and back to Texas. We had just watched her plane leave, had made our way back through the airport, to the car and had JUST past through the pay-booth when all of the sudden, out of nowhere the car went kaPUTT!! It made no sense what so ever, but there we were stuck at the Louisville airport, blocking traffic in this lane! My uncle who was a preacher at the time, got out and of course tried to tinker under the hood, but had no knowledge of cars so soon gave up. Others came over and tried to help, but to no avail. We sat there for three hours waiting for a miracle. As we waited my uncle had wandered over to one of the airport attendants and started witnessing to him. After talking to him for several minutes he came back to the car, got in and tried one more time to start the motor. With a simple turn of the key that car came back to life like nothing had been wrong with it. As if we hadn’t been sitting there for three hours scratching our heads in confusion. My uncle started praising God and said, That was God! That man needed to hear about Jesus!! That was my first lesson in learning to STOP, LOOK and LISTEN when you’re in a bad situation. STOP worrying. LOOK around to see what God might be doing in this situation and LISTEN for those “God cues” to tell us Why am I here? It was Paul that reminded me of that story today, as I was trying to spend a few minutes in the Word. In Philippians 1: 12 and 13 Paul said...
“But I would ye should understand brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.”
Paul is saying, I want you to understand WHY I’m going through these trials. I’m in places that many can’t go. Who can enter a palace and get to preach the gospel? Who can stand in a court room and be able to tell the things I’ve witnessed of Christ? Only one who is on trial. God may be using a situation to teach you a valuable lesson or to grow your faith. It doesn’t always have to be the “furtherance of the gospel” in others, but it ourselves. So, when we find ourselves once again in a sticky situation, let us remember that God might very well have us RIGHT WHERE HE WANTS US. So STOP, LOOK, and LISTEN. PS. We got a good laugh out of the fact that Sarah had made it all the way back to Texas before we made it back to Radcliff, which was just an hours drive away! :D
