Praising God in My (Extreme) Weakness

Today I was given an opportunity to praise God in spite of my tremendous weakness. The situation will definitely prove how weak I am after I've explained it, but I think it definitely still provided an opportunity to showcase the kindness of God and His great providence for one of His children.





Saturday afternoon, my family and I went to a Christmas/New Year's party at my wife's uncle's house about an hour away. I pulled our car into the street, and walked toward the van, putting the keys in my pocket while thinking, "I wonder if I should leave these in the house in case our van breaks down and we need someone to bring us our car." Finally, I decided against it, thinking it foolish that someone would actually have to take our car to get us.





We went to the party, and enjoyed the time we had there (I feel weird, but I actually enjoy seeing my wife's family...). We left, and came home to lay our young ones down to sleep. While my wife took a nap with our 3-year-old son, I decided I would look to see what I could make for dinner to give my wife time to relax (she has probably cooked enough during Christmas "vacation" to feed a football team...).





By the time I found something to make, I realized I needed a few ingredients from the store in order to make it. So, I decided I would take the car, because then I could just pull it back into the driveway (so that I would avoid one of those nasty over-night parking fines). I felt in my jacket pocket, and did not feel the keys. This was confusing because I had placed them in my pocket earlier. I wasn't too startled, but after I went to the store (about 15 minutes too late for New Year's Day), I searched all over our house for them in vain. They were nowhere to be found, and our car was parked in the street.



The more I looked for them, the more worried I began to be, and the more I began to think about what might have happened to them. I retraced my steps to the gas station and the car parts store, but they weren't there. For the next two days, while our car stay in the street, the keys were missing, and I began to realize more and more my complete and utter inability to find even a set of missing keys on my own. However, as I began to realize my utter inability, I began to have brought to my need for complete dependence upon God for help in my time of need. God began to draw me to depend upon Himself for the provision of the need I had.

By this afternoon, my prayers had begun to feel pointless and futile--as if they were bouncing off the ceiling. I was completely helpless, and felt completely useless. I began to lose hope that God would answer my prayer in the manner I had wanted. Then I began to realize how "my-will" centered my prayers were--"God, let me find these keys!" Rather, I should be focused on how this situation is causing me to be more dependent upon God--"God, I thank you that you are the One who has given us all good things, and I pray that you would be glorified and praised whether we find these keys or not!"

God drew me to Himself, in dependence upon Him over a set of lost keys. If that isn't helpless and hopeless, I don't know what else is. And if I can't do for myself something as simple as find a set of car keys, how could I possibly do something as difficult as save myself from my sin? Praise God for His kind providence in this manner.

"but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."--Romans 5:8

Praise God for His providence and care (by the way, I found the keys in a box of books next to our kitchen table!!)!!