Thread by @GPrater85015

#GeraldsDevotional
Jesus Walks With Us, Even When We Don’t Acknowledge Him

This is the addendum to my devotional from yesterday (the one that I mentioned was forth coming). This addendum is in the form of a brief story that will give a real-life example with an illustration of the devotion’s point and how we can live it out today. Here is the story:

In a rural area there was a large agricultural field. A spot near the center of the field contained a large hole in the sandy ground approximately 20 feet deep and 5 feet wide. A man, while walking through this field and not paying attention, accidentally falls into this hole and

becomes trapped. The walls of the hole were steep with soft soil and he could not climb out. Startled by the situation, he began to call out for help in a loud voice to get the attention of anyone who might be passing by.

After a short time, a man came walking along a path that

passed near the hole. He heard the cries for help from the man in the hole and walked to the edge to investigate. After finding out about the trapped man’s situation, the passer-by encouraged the trapped man, letting him know that he was a Christian and then proceeded to pray for

him. After a long prayer, the man continued on his journey on his way to an important appointment.

A short while later, a second man came down the path who was a construction worker who worked with his hands. He had with him many tools. After approaching the hole and hearing the

pleas of the trapped man, the construction worker offered to give him a contribution of one of his tools. He did this so that he could feel that he had offered to help out in hopes that the man could perhaps use the tool to get out of the hole. After dropping the tool to the

trapped man, the worker continued on the path to get to a distant job site where he had to be. After he left, the trapped man discovered that when he tried to use it, the tool only made more of the loose soil fall in on him.

A short time later, still a third man came walking

down the path and heard the cries for help. He approached the hole and looked down with amazement to discover that he knew the trapped man. The trapped man looked up at the man at the top of the hole and with delight, recognized him as his close friend Thomas. After surveying the

scene around the hole, Thomas kneeled down and jumped into the hole with his friend. After Thomas was at the bottom of the hole, his friend hugged Thomas but looked at him with confusion noting that now they were BOTH trapped in the hole with still no solution in sight.

This is where the description of this story ends. The question for us to consider at this point is:

Which of the three passers-by helped the trapped man the most and how/why was that help the most effective? (Remember that this is an example based on my devotional from yesterday

morning).

Please see my response and reasoning in my comment to this post below.

Response: The first gentleman came by and offered prayer for the man (probably asking God to save him). On the surface, this appears to be a good approach that we would all take. However, these

prayers did not appear to include asking God what He might have him to do (if anything) to help this man before going on about his busy schedule.

The second man (construction worker) did something that we might also feel compelled to do. He made a material contribution before

also going on about his schedule.

The third man (Thomas) is the one who helped the trapped man the most. You see, once Thomas was down in the hole, he consoled his friend and told him the following:

“I have been before where you are right now (in a situation such as this).

I know this looks hopeless but I also know that with God all things are possible. I am here to walk through this with you arm-in-arm to remind you of God’s hope and reminder that you are never alone. We are in this together.”

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