I had a car once, Ol’ Whitey I called her. I can’t even remember what kind she was, but she was the only car I ever bought brand new and paid for in full. And she was my newspaper car, so she had a hard, hard life. I drove her hundreds of miles at a time, almost daily, and I didn’t treat her very good in the process. About a year and a half before I had to let her go, her engine light started shining. I saw the signal she was sending every time I started her up, but I ignored it. She was still starting and still running and still doing what I needed her to do. But then, on occasion and at totally random, inconvenient times, she started not starting on the first try, but she’d often rev up just fine on the second or third try, so again, I ignored her. But then, and you know what’s next, she started not starting quite often, and once she even just quit running altogether in the middle of the highway. I took her to the shop and tried the cheapest fix. Still, her engine light shone on, and more often than before, she started not starting on the regular. By the time I finally took her into the shop for real, she was unfixable. Nobody even wanted her to resell because it would have cost more to fix her than her shell of a body was even worth. And somehow, I was COMPLETELY SURPRISED BY THIS!?!?!? I had to practically give her away to get rid of her so that I could get a new vehicle, which HURT my pocketbook more than I ever dreamed. I had paid off ‘Ol Whitey a couple years before, and I had not had a car payment in a long time, and let me tell you, when I got one, I made it a point to take extra special care of the new wheels on which I relied to take me places. And that’s a lot like what Asaph is saying, really: Why did you let the Temple get destroyed, Lord? It seems silly to me. Now we can’t even see you anymore.
And God basically replies (in silence, with a large sigh and a roll of His eyes), “Ummm, Asaph, maybe you should have thought of that BEFORE you and all of Israel stopped giving a darn, hmmm? Ever think of that? I bet you will now. Apologies, but this is the ONLY way to get your attention. Believe me, I’ve been trying to be nice about it for a very long time.”
Sum it up:
Why don’t you answer when we call you, Lord?
We’re desperate here!
You just left,
And we don’t understand why.
You let those wretched neighbors of ours
Kill, steal and destroy,
And now we have nothing to even show them
That You are with us.
It’s embarrassing.
Remember Your promise to us.
And more importantly,
Help us to make good
On our promise to You.
Writing prompt: hard lesson
Have you ever learned a lesson the hard way? Write about your experience today.
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