We Are Not Powerless

This morning I awoke to the power being out in our house. The silence--no air conditioning noise, inside or out; TVs off; computers out, etc.--made everything deathly quiet. My mind raced to the conclusion: "What do I do now?"

I was relieved when--after wondering if I paid the power bill, and running through a mental list of how I was gonna get stuff done with no electricity--in just under an hour, the ceiling fan over my head started turning and all was back to normal.

Sometimes things unexpectedly happen in life, just like a power outage. Maybe an accident, an illness, a job loss, or a marital/ relational difficulty stops us in our tracks. The first thing we think (i.e. power bill) is: "What did I do (or not do) to get in this predicament?" Many times there are no answers. Then we think: "How can life go on?" The situation we find ourselves in can bring about a complete halt in activity.

I have learned that life can go on even in the midst of debilitating circumstances. The fact is: we are not powerless. Even the most mundane activities can keep our lives moving. Brenda and I have often reminded each other what Elizabeth Elliot has said on the subject:

"When I went back to my jungle station after the death of my first husband, Jim Elliot, I was faced with many confusions and uncertainties. I had a good many new roles, besides that of being a single parent and a widow. I was alone on a jungle station that Jim and I had manned together. I had to learn to do all kinds of things, which I was not trained or prepared in any way to do. It was a great help to me simply to do the next thing.

Have you had the experience of feeling as if you've got far too many burdens to bear, far too many people to take care of, far too many things on your list to do? You just can't possibly do it, and you get in a panic and you just want to sit down and collapse in a pile and feel sorry for yourself.

Well, I've felt that way a good many times in my life, and I go back over and over again to an old Saxon legend, which I'm told is carved in an old English parson somewhere by the sea. I don't know where this is. But this is a poem which was written about that legend. The legend is 'Do the next thing.'

The poem says, 'Do it immediately, do it with prayer, do it reliantly, casting all care. Do it with reverence, tracing His hand who placed it before thee with earnest command. Stayed on omnipotence, safe 'neath His wing, leave all resultings, do the next thing.' That is a wonderfully saving truth. Just do the next thing."

(From a Back to the Bible transcript, Good News Broadcasting Association, Inc.)

So when life throws us a challenge, like a power outage, there are certainly somethings we will not be able to do. But if we improvise, lighting candles and making use of the quiet moment, we may begin to hear the still, small voice of God speaking to us (1 Kings 19:12). And that just might be the reason for the "power outage" God allowed in our life.

I have to remember: the electricity will return; it always does.