Is This How God Feels?

A few weeks ago, my wife and I bought a bike for our little girl’s 7th birthday. She has been wanting one for the past several years and we thought it was about time. A large draw-back for riding bikes around our house and street is that we live at the top of a large hill and our drive way, even though it is only about 40 feet long, it is up hill as well.

The other day Jenna decided that she wanted to go for a ride on her new bike and I warned her to be very careful about riding her bike down the driveway and into the road, as any good father would do. After two trips around our road and cul-de-sac, we were ready to head inside and relax. As we started up our driveway, Jenna promptly told me that she did not need my help to get the bike up the driveway with the words, and I quote…”I can do this myself, daddy!”.

Over the next several minutes Jenna struggled to push her bike up our driveway as I stood at the top looking down at her and just waiting for her to call out to her daddy and ask for help. As I watched her struggle with the bike, she kept saying to herself, “I can do this, I can do this, I can do this”! (She sounded like the little train that could!). The more she uttered these words, the more she struggled to push the bike up the drive. She was getting frustrated and discouraged because she could not do it.

As she struggled more and more to get the bike up the drive, I just kept saying to myself “Ask me and I will be glad to help – just ask!!!” It was driving me crazy because she could not do it by herself, she needed my help! Is this how God feels?

WHAM! Don’t you just hate it the way God makes HIS point sometimes!!!!!

I realized that that is what I do (and I would say most Christians). We have put our faith in God for our eternal destination and then when something tough comes along, we try to “push the bike up the hill all by ourselves”. Our father is up in heaven and He is looking down at us as we face our hill and He is saying “Ask me, just call on me and I will help!”

But what do we do most of the time, we try to do things ourselves! 

Back to my story… As I stood at the top watching Jenna, she was continuing to struggle so I started walking down to help and she started saying to me, “I don’t need your help, I can do this by myself…see!” This is where I know that God has a sense of humor, because right at the time the word “SEE” came out of her mouth, the front wheel turned and the handlebars twisted and had her trapped.

“DADDY, HELP ME! PLEASE, HELP ME!” These words started pouring out of her mouth over and over again. I run down the drive and picked up the bike and made sure that Jenna was OK. As soon as she was up off the ground and the bike was straight, much to my surprise, her words were “Thanks for your help daddy, but I think I can do this” WHAT?

Is this not what we do to God? We cry out to Him when everything else fails and nothing else works and then as soon as HE comes to help us and things seem “good” again, we get this thought in our heads that we can do things ourselves.

WHY DO WE DO THIS?

Why can’t we understand that He is the answer for everything. Why can’t we understand that He is and should be the first person we run to when we have problems or struggles. He wants us to call out to Him and He wants to help us!

Psalms 28:7 says, “The Lord is my strength. I trust Him and He helps me”. 

Jenna has a devotional book that we read each night entitled “Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids”. On the night I am writing this, we read the following out of this book that makes my point so well:

“I am your Strength and your Shield. Long before you get out of bed each morning, I am there, preparing and planning your day. Instead of wondering what will happen and worrying about how you will handle it, talk to Me about it. I’ve already got it all figured out. If you ask for My help, My Strength will flow freely into you. You will be strong enough to face whatever comes.”