Crazy Love, Outrageous Gifts, Given By Our Father

My daughter and I watched a movie last night called "We Bought A Zoo."  Really cute, and heartwarming.  And, as usual, I saw some spiritual truths.  In the movie, Matt Damon plays a grieving widower with two children, Dylan, who is 14 and very bitter, and Rosie, who is 7 and very, very cute.  Everyone yearns for the missing mother, who died of an undisclosed illness, and whose image is seen throughout the film.  It made me think of our spiritual lives, where we yearn for Christ, and see Him in all things, but only if we look for Him and stop wallowing in our current situation. "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

In one particular scene, the dad (played by Matt Damon) is preparing dinner.  They start to cook what appears to be some corn on the cob, and he tells the children that he forgot to buy butter.  He says it will be up to them, they have a vote, but he just wants them to know that it is 9 miles to the nearest grocery store, and 9 miles back.  So he asks them to ask themselves, it is worth driving 18 miles for butter?  Needless to say, the next time we see the dad, he is coming back from the grocery store with butter in his shopping bag.

To me, this was a powerful illustration.  What dad among us has not done some outrageous things for our children?  I know I have.  And in our human limitations, we all wish we could have done more.  Yet look at the lengths our Father in Heaven goes to for us. "Which of you," the Bible says, "if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:9-11).

Stop right now and count your blessings.  Think of all the good things you have in your life, things that you have very little control of--your health, your family, your possessions.  We tend to take these things for granted, but the Lord has blessed us with them.  Like Job in the Bible, if all these things were taken from us in one fell swoop, we would know that God had allowed it to happen.  Unlike Job, however (for most of us), we would not praise Him in our losses. "Naked came I from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." (Job 1:21)

In another scene of the movie, the young Dylan, the son, was asked to turn off the light in the garage.  A simple task, to be sure, but one that needed to be done.  But Dylan does not focus on the task at hand.  He notices a crate in the garage that is labeled "Live Snakes".  He can't help himself--he must open the crate and look in.  When he sees the serpents raise their heads and hears their hissing, he slams the lid shut and runs out of the building.  Unfortunately, he does not secure the latch, and the snakes escape.  In the morning, they find an infestation of snakes in their home and their yard.  To his credit, young Dylan takes responsibility for it, but he is consumed by guilt.  "What an idiot!" he calls himself.

Now, isn't that so much like us, in so many ways?  Our Father gives us a task to do, and we get distracted by sin.  No matter how well marked the path to sin is, no matter how large the letters on the sign, we still are tempted to open the box and peek in.  Like the ancient Greek myth of Pandora's Box, once it is open it is impossible to shut up again.  Sin slithers in, like a serpent.  It multiplies in our lives, and becomes an infestation.  And instead of going to the Father, we spend precious time and effort blaming ourselves.  Wracked with guilt, we become a hindrance in the effort to contain the critters, rather than humbly offering to help.

Finally, in one crucial scene of the movie, Matt Damon pulls on a sweatshirt that had been a favorite of his wife's.  When she was alive, she kind of took it over from him.  Now that he misses her so much, he puts on the garment that he has not worn in years.  I don't want to ruin the movie for those who have not seen it, but in doing this he finds a huge blessing.  Huge.  A life-changing blessing, that had been provided for by his wife for him before she died, and without his putting on the garment, he would not have found.  In fact, earlier in the movie he had considered throwing the sweatshirt away.

We are all called to put on the righteousness of God, like a cloak.  "I delight greatly in the Lord: my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness." (Isaiah 61:10).  We can choose to throw it away.  We can choose to keep salvation locked in a closet.  But the blessing comes when we wrap his grace around us, when we clothe ourselves in God's provision.  Then we find "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap." (Luke 6:38).

You hear me when I call

You are my morning song
Though darkness fills the night
It cannot hide the light

Whom shall I fear?

You crush the enemy
Underneath my feet
You are my Sword and Shield
Though troubles linger still

Whom shall I fear?

I know Who goes before me
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

My strength is in Your name
For You alone can save
You will deliver me
Yours is the victory

Whom shall I fear?
Whom shall I fear?

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful

And nothing formed against me shall stand
You hold the whole world in your hands
I'm holding onto Your promises
You are faithful
You are faithful
You are faithful

I know Who goes before me
I know Who stands behind
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side
The One who reigns forever
He is a Friend of mine
The God of angel armies
Is always by my side

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