The Parking Spot

A Los Angeles woman was battling an insurance company to pay for an operation to save her daughter. As she held a news conference, she was informed that the insurance company had suddenly decided to pay for the operation, so she cried out, “God is with me!” Sadly, the approval came too late--a short time later the daughter tragically died. It reminded me of a lesson I learned as a new Christian. I had prayed for a parking spot, and when someone pulled out of one in the next instant, I took it as a healthy token that God was with me, and said, “Praise the Lord!” Suddenly, someone beat me to the parking space. It was a good lesson--never take what is perceived as a positive answer to prayer as a sign that God is with us. In John 11:30 it seemed to Mary that Jesus didn’t care, when He failed to respond immediately to help her ailing brother. If our faith in God is dependent on positive answers to prayer, it won’t be long until we become disillusioned. When Paul lists the trials that often come to the Christian (see Romans 8:35), he concludes by saying that we are more than conquerors “through Him that loved us.” That’s a direct reference to the cross. He loved us. The cross is the lighthouse of His love, and that’s where we find our stability. It shines as the evident token of God’s love--that He is with all those who repent and trust the Savior. It is that knowledge that will keep us off the rocks of despair, in life’s greatest storms.