There was this father who was trying to get a Sunday afternoon nap in his
living room but his little boy kept bugging him saying, "Daddy, I'm
bored." So the dad came up with a
game for the little guy. He found a
picture of a globe in the newspaper, a picture of the world and he ripped it
into about 50 pieces and then told his son to put it back together. He knew that his son didn't know where all
the countries were so he thought that would give him some time for his
nap. But in about 15 minutes, the little
guy woke him up and said, "I'm done.
I put it all together." The
dad was flabbergasted, he was shocked and he said, "You're kidding. How in the world did you finish it so
soon?" And the little guy said,
"Well, dad, there was this picture of a person on the back and when I got
my person put together the world looked just fine." And that is also true of all of us.
Now let’s say a fictitious friend of mine comes to see me with some frustration and
hurts in his life. Let’s say his name is
Lionel. Let’s say I have met him at one
of my Starbucks I like to go to and he comes up to my front porch and sits down
and says, "Bill, I am messed up. I just
am not able to put all the pieces together in life the right way and I want to. Can you help me?"
"Thanks for coming, Lionel. I can’t help you all by myself but I know
where we can start."
So I pick up a Bible and I look up Isaiah 57:18 (TEV) in the Old
Testament. This is a very important
verse in dealing with this. Here God is
speaking… "I have seen how they acted, but I will heal them. I will lead them and help them, and I will
comfort those who mourn. I offer peace
to all, near and far."
And from this I asked him five questions and then shared with him five
promises that God gives here in this verse.
Let me ask and share them with you…
…Are you hurt? GOD says, "I want to heal you."
…Are you confused? "I want to
lead you."
…Do you feel helpless to change anything?
"I want to help you change that."
…Do you believe that no one understands your problems? "I want to comfort you."
…And 5. Are you anxious, worried
and afraid? "I want to offer peace
to you."
Listen. I know that life is tough.
All of us live in an imperfect world.
Other people have hurt each one of us and we have also hurt other
people. The Bible says that all have
sinned. No one is perfect. We have all blown it. We hurt and we hurt others.
So that is where Lionel, and you and I are going to start. So why don’t we plan on meeting back here on
the front porch for about five or so minutes tomorrow and go from there...
...OK? OK…
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