Never Happened

Imagine that your computer goes down from terminal viruses and there's nothing you can do. It will cost more to fix it than to replace it. So you go buy a new one. The day you bring it home you look into and purchase an excellent anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-malware, anti-every-bad-thing-that-can-be-done-to-a-computer piece of software. You install that bad boy and then you start out with your new computer. A year later you get notified that your subscription is up and it's time to pay for the renewal. "Now wait," you might tell yourself, "in all the time I've had this computer I have not once had a problem. It has never gotten a virus, never gotten malware, never glitched, never hiccuped. It has run great. What possible reason would I have for spending that money for another year of that software when I haven't needed it yet." You might. We often do. And, of course, you would be seriously in error. Why? Well, you can see it from here. The reason your computer has run so smoothly all this time was that software. It's just that the absence of problems masks that fact.

We do that with God. "Dear God, help me! I'm in trouble." And the trouble vanishes. "Oh, never mind, God; I've got this." Worse, we never notice (because, honestly, we can't) the problems that don't occur. That red light just when you were in a hurry that, had you been in that intersection at that moment someone would have run the light and hit you. The job you would have hated that you don't get hired for. The spouse that would have made your life miserable but you didn't marry. All sorts of things you never knew because God was at work.

It's difficult to remember to be grateful for the things we're aware of that God has done for us. It's nearly impossible to remember to be grateful for the things He's done that we never knew. But don't be fooled. That's a long, long list of things. Don't think that you're doing all this on your own. And don't ignore what He does just because it's not obvious. Instead, "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thess 5:18) Oh, and go ahead and renew that subscription.