Searching in vain - Devotion for 8/6/07

Search in vain – Devotion for 8/6/07

I lost my wallet. This weekend my family and I joined my wife’s sister and family for a weekend at the Kings Dominion theme park near Richmond, VA, and yesterday at some point in time I lost my wallet. UGH! We couldn’t find it earlier in the day, but I was pretty sure I had left it in the car and just brought the cash I would need in my pocket – but upon returning to the car at the end of the day we found that wasn’t the case. I called the hotel, and I checked with the park’s lost and found, but no luck. So we spent much of the ride home last night on the phone calling and canceling cards and the such. Now I have to get those things reissued – cards, driver’s license, insurance card. If you’ve ever lost your wallet, you know exactly what a pain all of this is.

So in my sour puss attitude this morning I finally set aside time to actually hash things out with the Lord in my devotion time. The Psalm for me to read today was Psalm 127, which begins, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in His sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2). I really needed those comforting words reminding me of the providence of God – reminding me that even though I am going through what seems like a huge inconvenience right now, God is still watching over me. Sometimes we fight and fight against things that are out of our control, and we really are spinning our wheels in vain. If it is not in the Lord’s plan, it doesn’t matter how many hours your work or how early you get up. This morning, it is comforting to me to be reminded of the ultimate providence of God, and knowing that He is watching over my vain attempts.

Now . . . if only He could tell me where my wallet is . . .