BBD 05.15.15 I Don't Believe This! (Classic)
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A dear friend of ours in a
complete surprise found out a couple of days ago that she has cancer. She went
to her doctor about a cough and ended up in the hospital a few hours later with
bowel, liver, lung, and breast issues. They have just performed some tests and
she may need bowel surgery later today or tomorrow. Please pray for Michelle
and her family. Thank you for your prayers!!
The Burning
Bush Devotional
Classic
from 2007
05.15.15
I Don’t
Believe This!
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God.” When His disciples heard it, they were greatly
astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said
to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -
Matthew 19:23-26 NKJV.
What would you think if a 600 or so pound cow suddenly
dropped on the hood of your vehicle? It happened to Charles and Linda Everson
while they were on a trip to celebrate their first wedding anniversary at
Manson, Washington. The cow fell some 200 feet off of a cliff. It does seem strange,
because unlike sheep, cows usually have more brains than that. The cow as you
would expect suffered severe injuries, along with the Everson’s minivan. The
Eversons somehow escaped having any injuries. One official said that they had
escaped being killed by only inches. Charles
Everson kept saying, “I don’t believe this. I don’t believe this.” Most of us would find it hard to believe too, I know I
would.
Jesus told in Matthew 19 of how hard it is for a rich person to be saved. It was
hard then, and it is still hard today for someone who has a great amount of
wealth to be saved. Because, those people with great wealth tend to trust in
their wealth instead of God. However, as Jesus pointed out, with God it is not
impossible. It may be unexpected, but not impossible. We often hear about how
God is in the business of making the impossible possible. He is also in the
business of making the expected turn into the unexpected; so much so that we
walk away saying, “I don’t believe this. I
don’t believe this.”
Now, I do not believe God caused the cow to fall off the
cliff onto the Eversons minivan, but it is very likely that He had something to
do with their miraculous escape from injury; that escape from injury would be
completely unexpected. I am not a good enough mathematician to calculate the
odds of a cow falling from a 200-foot cliff onto a minivan traveling at x
number of mph/kph not killing the occupants of the vehicle. My guess would be
that the odds would be astronomical for such a thing to happen. I have never
even heard of a cow falling off of a cliff onto a moving vehicle before, have
you? Totally unexpected….
What did the sailors expect would happen when they threw
Jonah overboard? The great fish swallowing Jonah was very unexpected. What did
all of David’s family, the Israelites and the Philistines expect to happen when
the shepherd boy walked out to face the giant Goliath? They expected David to
be slaughtered, and for the Philistines to overcome the Israelites. The
impossible became possible, and the expected disappeared, as the unexpected
became reality. All through the Bible, what people expected was swallowed up in
the unexpected becoming reality.
What are you facing in your life? What is going on in
your life? Your expectations could very well be swallowed up by the unexpected
of God’s hand upon your life. Are your expectations the same as that of God?
Why not ask Him? You may be surprised to find the unexpected taking place in
your life.
Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
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Please pray for Justin Lewis who
is battling cancer. He is a 35-year-old Christian with a wife and four
children. Unless God intervenes there is little hope for him. He has recently been at MD
Anderson in Houston for about ten days with super chemo and needs to go back
soon for another super chemo treatment. They found new places of cancer on his
last scan. He is very weak and needs to gain some weight and strength prior to
the next treatment. Thank you for all of your prayers for Justin and his wife
and four children!! (Update: Justin has now completed two super chemo
treatments and is currently undergoing a third. He will have another scan at
the end of this treatment. The great news is that he was able to work four days
before going back for his third treatment!! Thanks for all of your prayer for
him, they are making a difference!!) Please also pray for Justin Lewis' sister
Tammy. Tammy has been in the hospital in New Jersey for about a week. She has
Guillian-Barre Syndrome and when she is released from the hospital she will
have to go to rehab and learn to walk again. She has three young children at
home that her husband is carrying for.
Prayer Requests: Please pray for
those affected by the earthquake in Nepal. Please pray for an end to the racial
hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Please also
pray for Shane Hall who is a young pastor who has cancer and for all those
afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s surgery for removal of
kidney and cancerous tumor went better than expected. She will now have targeted
chemo by pill or injection for nodules in her lungs. Please pray too for
Beverly who has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Many prayer needs are
posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also
post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer -
please pray for me.).
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