I recently ready about a New York man who found himself trapped in his car during a snow storm this past Christmas Eve. He was running out of fuel and began fearing for his life. He was in a residential area and began knocking on doors of homes nearby begging for shelter, even offering to pay to sleep on the floor. Ten households turned him down sending him back to his car to try to survive the night. An elderly woman approached his car later, also trapped. She needed to use the restroom and was running out of gas, too. In an effort to save their lives, the man broke into a nearby school he found on his GPS. He didn't stop there though. He went back out looking for people trapped in their car and brought them all back to the school for shelter. He ended up saving probably 20 lives.
Great story of bravery and heroics, but God in this story is bigger than the obvious! If you are like me, your initial reaction to the fact that TEN households turned him down for shelter in the middle of a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, no less, was one of shock and disappointment. And hear me, I get it. They were afraid. They thought he might be a murderer or a thief trying to steal all their Christmas gifts, and I can't with 100% conviction say I wouldn't have done the same. But after finding out how many lives he saved, the disappointment turned to understanding.
God worked through those families' fear to set up a rescue for 20 more people. Did you hear me? He used their fear for His plan. The man would go on to say that had just one of those families taken him in, he wouldn't have saved a single one of the people that he rescued. I can imagine after ten rejections for shelter, this man was feeling like God was not answering his prayer. But God was going to not only answer his prayer, but TWENTY others through him.
May this be a reminder to all of us but especially those who feel like God has forgotten them or is ignoring their cries for help, that His ways are not our ways. You may believe He is doing everything BUT answering your prayer. Oh but my friend, you have no idea how He is using the details for a bigger miracle than you even asked for!
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
