On Tuesday, I received a phone from a number I did not recognize. On the other line, I heard a woman screaming and crying uncontrollably and after she caught her breath, she said, "Brad, it's Maria, your neighbor. Come quickly, I need help!" Immediately, I ran out over to her house. Her front door was wide open with the keys still in the lock and I could hear her sobbing in the other room. I ran to her and to my amazement, her hand was stuck in a window, one of those old Craftsman Style windows with the latch and the double sliding windows. She was screaming and shaking because 4 of her fingers on her right hand were stuck in between the 2 windows and she couldn't get them out. I rushed over to try and pry them out but I couldn't budge the window. It was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I've ever gone through because she screamed louder every time I tried to get her free. Thankfully, she had enough sense in her mind to point me to a screw driver. I grabbed it, put it in between the 2 windows, and pried her hand free. Her hand was completely smashed, she cried in gratitude and in pain all mixed together and I helped her to the couch because she almost passed out from being light headed. I got her a cup of water, some ice, called her husband and Fina(we can always count on "Nurse Fina"!) and waited for her to calm herself and tell me what happened. She went into great detail about what happened while I rushed her down to the ER but apparently, she had her hand stuck in between the 2 windows for over 30 minutes! One of those old windows they meant to fix but never got around to fixing. She had made several phone calls to family and friends but nobody was available. Fortunately, by God's grace, she got my cell from her husband the night before and she called me and I "just happened" to be home. God's timing is amazing, isn't it? We got her to the ER and she suffered from hair-line fractures in her fingers but thank God, her hand will be ok in a month or so.
I think there are times when our "hand gets crushed in the window". Things seem like they're going relatively well and then our hand gets trapped in the old broken window. And we're stuck with no way out. But of course, God in His mercy, who sees every hair on our head, brings a friend to pry us free.
I share this because as I've been reading through I Kings, it strikes me that there is some parallel. I Kings 1-11 is an INCREDIBLE section of Scripture and we'd be her for days to comb through and mine every incredible gem....but if you like buried treasure and you like hunting for buried treasure, you'll find some of the greatest riches in the Bible buried in the pages of I Kings 1-11.
King Solomon has everything he could possibly want. But he had an old broken window he didn't take care of--Women and Wealth! He loved "many foreign women" and He "clung to these in love"(I K 11. 1-2). Deut 17. 14-20 reminds us Kings are not supposed to go for the gold! And they're not supposed to "multiply wives". Kings are to be holy devoted to God and to do justice in the land. And although God made Solomon the wisest in the land, the wisest ever(I K 3.12), apparently, he forgot to read Deut 17 and apply it. Apparently, he forgot to apply Ps 72, a psalm credited to his name!
Isn't this our story in a sense?
We get away from the word and we forget how to live our life.
And then the old broken windows we put off coming SLAMMING down on our hands. And then we're trapped.
Solomon never fulfilled his potential. He did some things well in his lifetime, but in the end, he did not finish well. He did not "make his throne greater than the throne of David"(I K 1.37) as was prophesied over his life. And subsequently, the "Golden Years" of David's reign ended and the Kingdom began to divide as you'll see in I K 12. May it not be so with us.
I K 1-11 makes me ask myself: What are "broken windows" in my life? Where has my "hand" been caught before? Lord, how are you leading Pasadena Church to get its house in order that we would be wholly devoted to you?
May God increase your zeal for Him and Him alone to love Him with all of your life and to love your neighbor as you know He loves you!
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3 comments:
Good word Pastor Brad. I will continue to focus on fixing my "broken windows". Thanks for the encouragement.
Pastor D.
1 Kings 12
Continuing from the broken window analogy into 1 Kings 12 - I am amazed at how easy it was to God's chosen people to be divided (of course God said it was his plan)
One simple interaction, pride/stubborness, and the tribes split. Once they split each king has to justify his actions - even by outright disobedience to God.
I am struck by the simplicity and ease of the sin and how immediate the consequences.
Yeah, it is pretty easy to sin, isn't it? I K 13 and 14 give you a good indicator or the ramifications of sin. But both chptrs raise some interesting questions: old prophet of Bethel lies to "a man of God" prophet and tricks him into breaking fast God commanded of him and he's punished and eaten by a lion. Raises some interesting questions about how serious it is to be true to what God has spoken. In I K 14 v.13 raises an interesting question about how Jeroboam, a pretty bad dude, is "in him there is found something pleasing..." And I K 13 and 14 are all in the midst of this crazy civil war going on btwn Israel and Judah. Just continuing to chew on the word and process what God is saying in Kings. Blessings!
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