My Inbox of Daily Inspirations: Daily Heartlight -- October 7, 2007

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October 7, 2007

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The wait for a Spanish language Heartlight is over!
Come enjoy Today's Verse in Spanish, with many more
features already in development. Heartlight is
now reaching even more people around the world with
the positive message of Jesus Christ. Praise God!
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=========================== TODAY'S ARTICLE ==========================

Missing It, by Tom Norvell

In John's gospel there are two stories that haunt me as they remind me
of how easy it is to miss what God is doing in our lives and miss His
power. The first is the story of the man who had been an invalid for
thirty-eight years (John 5:1-15) who is healed by Jesus, and the second
is the blind man who is given sight (John 9). In both stories a miracle
takes place. One man is allowed to walk and the other is healed of his
blindness. Both are appropriately amazed at what happened and go to
their religious leaders to share their experience. Both are met with
criticism and skepticism. In both cases the religious leaders missed
the point and missed God.

How often do we miss the point of what God is doing in our lives or in
the lives of others because we are wrapped up in the business of church
and making sure that we keep the rules? How often do we miss the
opportunity to celebrate God because the circumstances do not fit our
theology?

Here are a few examples ...

A friend calls to tell us how they were desperate for cash. Bills were
overdue, the car needed repairs, and the kids needed clothes for the
new school year. They prayed, "God help us." Unexplained and unexpected
an envelope arrives in the mail with no return address and no note
containing the exact amount of money they needed to cover the bills,
plus a little extra. How do we respond? Do we join in their
celebration? Do we acknowledge that this could have only come from God?
Do we question and investigate how someone could have known what the
need was and wonder who could have come through for us in the pinch? Do
we silently wonder why things like this never happen to us?

One of our children greets us after school with a smile stretched
across their face because they believed what we had prayed with them
the night before when we asked God to help them deal with the teacher
who seemed to be unfair, or the classmate who never talked to them. On
this day, that prayer was answered. They are thrilled to know God
really does hear us when we pray. How did we respond? Did we rejoice
with them or did we play it down with a, "Oh wow! That's neat." Do we
ignore it completely by justifying it our minds that we don't want them
to grow up thinking that kind of stuff happens all the time?

During a Bible class someone stands up, unsolicited, saying, "I have a
praise to share with the class." For the next few minutes they struggle
to contain their emotions as they reveal a struggle they have been
experiencing and the victory they have now experienced. They use words
like "miracle" and "unbelievable" and "amazed" and they give credit
completely to the Lord. Though several show their agreement with an
"Amen" or a "Praise God," one wise brother reminds us that we should
not get too carried away with this sort of thing and reminds us that
miracles have ceased and that God really does not work like that any
more.

Let's not spoil the celebration!

In each case the person with the story says, "I don't know all the
details of what happened. All I know is this ... I got this envelope
full of money in the mail ... the relationship with the person at
school is better ... I have won the victory over this problem ... I was
crippled, now I walk ... I was blind, now I see."

Jesus seems to address this at the end of his encounter with a man he
healed who had been born blind. The Lord said to his critics, "For
judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and
those who see will become blind" (John 9:39).

This week, let me challenge us not to spoil a celebration with our
explanations, with our analysis, or by discrediting it. Let the
celebrations flourish. Join in. Give God the glory, much like the
people did when Jesus forgave and healed a man who had been paralyzed:

This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never
seen anything like this!" (Mark 2:12).

Who knows? Maybe God has something planned for you. I hope you don't
miss it.

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(c) 2007 Tom Norvell <tomnorvell@mac.com>. Used by permission. A
Norvell Note <http://www.anorvellnote.com> is a weekly email
message from Tom Norvell. Check it out!

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Daily Heartlight -- October 7, 2007