Following On

Edwin Smith felt forgotten. The military had ordered a crane from his company and it had to be ready to ship in just two days. If it didn’t ship by that date, he would face serious financial penalties.

However, the crane was missing some essential parts. He took a quick trip down to the warehouse to retrieve them, but they weren’t there. He spent the entire afternoon looking into every box and still did not find the parts. He drove back to the construction yard and looked there. He drove to his office and went through his drawers.  He drove back to the warehouse and looked through every box for a second time and still did not find the parts.

He asked God, “Have you forgotten me?”  He felt so lost and so abandoned.  He went to bed tossing and turning, his mind going back over every step. Where was God in the midst of his trouble?

Have you felt forgotten? Have you felt abandoned? Do you feel as if you’ve lived such a disappointing, God rejecting life that there’s no hope for you?  What is the last time you even ask God for help?  Do you feel like there would be no point because he isn’t going to answer anyway?

At 3:00 a.m. Edwin Smith rolled over and saw the pillow he had placed on the floor which he had put there to remind himself to pray. He hadn’t prayed. He had felt too distraught. Even now he didn’t feel like praying. Nonetheless, out of duty, he knelt on his knees beside the bed and asked God for help

Can we do that? Does God listen to our prayers even when we don’t feel like praying? The next day he went to his warehouse with the intent of looking through the boxes for a third time. As he was looking, he noticed one box that didn’t look quite right. It was taller than it should have been. To his dismay, he realized that this was two boxes nested together. When he removed the first box from out of the shell of the second box … well - there they were -  his missing parts.

Carlos Javier Puentes writes, “Whatever you’re walking through today, let this be your reminder— God has not forgotten you, and He never will. Anchor your soul in that eternal promise.”