Oh Dear

Way back in 1976, I was ushered into a very impressive board room, while I waited for a friend. I was alone, so I decided to sit in the chairman’s seat. It was like a large throne and made me feel important. As I sat there I noticed a new high-tech phone on the table in front of me. It was just a matter of pressing a few buttons and I could talk to someone without even lifting the receiver. I decided I would call someone, just for fun. I phoned the manager of my bookstore, chatted for a minute, and then said goodbye.

Then I decided to call my friend Roger. When he answered, I said, “Hi Roger. Guess where I am? I’m in a big board room, sitting at the huge table, on a large chair. I called you on a high-tech phone, and I didn’t even have to lift the receiver. In front of me is a big wooden gavel, and a round thing that looks like a coaster,” and as I spoke I brought the hammer down on the wooden coaster and hit it. But it wasn’t wooden. It was made of china, and it smashed into a thousand pieces!

It was then that I realized that my feet didn’t touch the floor on that big throne, and I said, “I’ve got to go now Roger.”

We proudly sit on our big godless thrones, thinking that we have the world at our fingertips. But all it takes is one of life’s realities to bring us back down to earth--to humble us and show us that we are not God, and that we desperately need His mercy (see Psalm 10:4).