Construction worker Patrick Lawler thought he had a toothache. For almost a week, he tried painkillers and ice packs to reduce the swelling. When nothing he did brought relief, he finally went to the dental office where his wife works. Only after the dentist took an x-ray did Patrick learn the true source of the toothache. He had a four-inch nail in his head. The nail had entered through his mouth, just missing Patrick's right eye. Six days earlier, Patrick was working with a nail gun that backfired, and shot the nail into his mouth. But Patrick didn't realize it. He complained of a toothache and blurry vision. He tried soothing the pain with ice cream. But this was a pain that ice cream wasn't going to help. It took four hours of surgery to remove the nail, and Patrick is fine.
How often have you misdiagnosed your troubles? Trouble is the pain that says, “Stop trying to fix things yourself. Stop medicating the ache away. Stop ignoring the hurt." http://twitpic.com/52rk72 When you come face to face with problems, situations that are infuriating, frustrating, terrifying, confusing, it is so that you will turn to the one you can depend on. Referring to his crushing circumstances the Apostle Paul said: "But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Since it is so difficult for me to learn to rely on God, trouble must be my teacher. Sometimes I have to hit a wall in order to realize that my only hope is Christ. Comfort will not overflow in my life until I realize that I depend on the God who raises the dead. Trouble tells me I cannot save myself, but I must turn from self-reliance and rely on the one with resurrection power.
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