Unplug Your “Thrower!”

Just sitting here in my living-room looking out the window at all the snow from our recent snow storm here in Saginaw, Michigan. It is that really heavy/slushy type snow as oppose to that light fluffy stuff! Anyway, I began to think about a another snow storm we had back in 2011, and the experience I had with with my snow blower. I have a craftsmen heavy-duty snow blower that usually gets the job done, but this particular day I had a problem! There is always something we can learn from our problems! Not long after I cranked-up the engine and began to clear my driveway, the snow blower began to run roughly and eventually died out. I thought, “I must have run out of gas.” Indeed, I had! My neighbor across the street gave me some gas, so I figured I was good-to-go! I cranked it back up with a tank full of gas and it would only go for a few minutes and than die out again. It was cold, wet, and I was tired and becoming very frustrated! I knew the spark plugs were relatively new so I began to fret thinking I was dealing with something complicated and most-likely, costly.

I finally, decided I needed to load the machine into my truck and take it to the hardware store for a tune-up, hoping that would solve my problem and save me a costly repair bill. As I drove to the hardware store, worry and discouragement kept poking up  their ugly heads! When I finally arrived at the hardware store, unloaded the snow blower and pushed it into the store, I was faced with a long slow moving line at the repair and parts counter. Lord Jesus! When I finally get to the counter and told the clerk what I was dealing with, he said they no longer do tune-ups, but only repair the motors. I then asked him if he would check to see if it was a belt or something simple and he told me I could do that just as easily as he could! Keep in mind, other people are in line behind me and no doubt listening to our conversation. I then told him “that is not a very good attitude for a service department!” I could see that my response surprised him. Perhaps he thought I would just pack up that heavy snow blower and go home just as ignorant and discouraged as I was when I arrived. If he did, he was wrong! My guess is he didn’t want his boss to hear about this dis-satified customer, or to be perceived as a person with a bad attitude in front of the other customers. He didn’t respond to me verbally, but leaned over and tugged on the mechanism while I lifted up the snow blower. Then he offered to go outside with me because he suspected the throwing mechanism was plugged-up! So it was! It was plugged-up with snow-ice, so we dug it out and the problem was solved! He even helped me put the snow blower in my SUV! He did not charge me a thing! As I drove off with my working snow blower I had mixed emotions. I felt stupid, but thankful! I began to think about the problem I had, its solution and any spiritual application or lessons I could learn from that experience. Here are some things I learned or was reminded of as a result of this experience:

1. Satan wants to frustrate your purpose! To frustrate means to induce feelings of discouragement. All I wanted to do was remove the snow from my sidewalks. A simple purpose that turned out to be a somewhat frustrating experience. In the Book of Ezra, chapter 4, you can read about how the adversaries of God’s people came against them as they were rebuilding the Temple of God. In verse four the Bible says the adversaries of Judah weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building. Verse five actual says their adversaries hired counsellors against them to frustrate their purpose! Note: I’m not necessarily blaming this particular problem on the devil. I am just making spiritual application! This particular problem certainly reminded me of other occasions when I knew the devil was trying to frustrate my(God’s) purposes for my life.
2. We need the help of others. My neighbor was generous enough to give me the gas I needed because I had run out of gas. Proverbs 27:10 says “…better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.”
3. Things are not always what they appear to be! The snow blower ran out of gas at the same time the “thrower” became plugged up with snow-ice. The occurrence of running out of gas and the thrower becoming plugged was very deceptive! Satan is a deceiver. See Revelation 12:9. He will feed you information that leads to a wrong conclusion. It appeared as though I was facing a major and costly repair bill.
4. Not remembering or learning from your history will cause you to repeat past failures or problems. I felt really stupid (but thankful) when I discovered it was just snow-ice that had plugged up the machine. I would have felt bad even if it had been the first time the thrower had plugged with snow-ice; but this was not the first time, I remembered it had happened to me several years earlier but had forgotten!
5. Things are not always as bad as you think they are. I thought I may be facing a major repair and a costly one! It was nothing a little knowledge, a stick (or screwdriver), and a good memory couldn’t solve! The widow woman to whom God had sent Elijah told him she was about to gather two sticks for fire, bake a cake of bread from the handful of meal with the little oil she had in a cruse, eat it with her son and die! She soon learned that not only would she not die, but God had a miracle of provision for her! 1 Kings 17:10-16.
6. Persistence in solving your problem pays off. In all that I went through that day I was not about to quit. I refuse to throw in the towel in discouragement or frustration; especially with the initial comment of the hardware service technician. I was not leaving that hardware store without an answer!
7. Sometimes you think you need more money when what you really need is more grace! The grace I received from my neighbor and from the hardware service technician proved to be all I needed to solve my problem.

In conclusion, whatever problem you may be facing in life that has your blessings, marriage, business,  or ministry plugged-up; may the grace of God and the wisdom of God be in manifestation to unplug your “thrower” and get things back into good working order.