Look Up and Look Around

In Isaiah chapter 30:21, we see a verse that can reinforce the notion of God's leadership in our lives - He desires to lead and communicate with His people.   He is actively involved in our activities, and perhaps is orchestrating circumstances at this very moment for your good and His glory.  The verse reads:

21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.

This day, this moment, we can acknowledge that God is with us, if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and Lord - He has provided us with powerful resources to be used for the expression of His presence through our lives.  He has given us His Holy Spirit to give us direction, and even given us angels to go with us, to surround us and protect us.   If we could only see how God and those forces aligned with Him are working, it would give us a greater appreciation of the power that we have available and of His abiding presence to go with us.

In Psalm 32, we can read a passage of Scripture that points to the Lord as our companion and our protector, the One who goes with us and will show us the way that He intends for us to walk and will strategically position us so that He can show Himself faithful to and through us:

7You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah8I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.

Here is an amazing story out of Burbank, California.  It was published on the website of KTRK-TV out of Houston.

Konrad Lightner and his wife, Jennifer were in the process of moving their family out of an apartment.   They were moving another load out, including a box spring when they noticed a 3-year-old and his sister throwing their toys out of a third-story window.  Then, they saw the toddler throw his leg over the window sill.

Jennifer said that they called 911 and Konrad threw the box spring down trying to break his fall and stood there to catch the child.

Burbank Police Lt. John Dilibert picks up on the story:  "The child climbed out of the window and was actually hanging out on to what appeared to be a telephone line or a cable line. They placed the mattress underneath the child, and at that point the child released and fell to the ground."

Konrad was able to break the child's fall, placing him softly on the mattress. The 3-year-old was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, but he did not suffer any major injuries.

A neighbor rushed to get the little boy's parents, who were unaware of what happened but were deeply grateful for the amazing rescue. Photos from the scene show paramedics checking out the toddler as his father clutched him tightly.

Konrad related that, "It feels like I watched a TV show, like it didn't happen to me."

Jennifer said, "It was very surreal afterwards. We were just moving the rest of day and every once in a while we'd look at each other and just be like, 'That happened. That was real.'"

Earlier in the day, the couple got stuck in an elevator. It took them 30 minutes to be freed. They say if that didn't happen, they would not have been there at the right moment to save the little boy.  Jennifer told the Los Angeles Times that, "God definitely had us in the right place at the right time."

There are quite a few observations about this amazing rescue story that can enhance our thinking.   First of all, I think that this story can help refresh our view of God's timing.   You know, there are spiritual forces all around us that can serve to save our lives or at least alter our course.   The Bible tells us that angels, ministering spirits, are sent on behalf of believers in the Lord.  Perhaps you can think of an instance where you have been spared some sort of calamity by a delay in your path, or maybe you have been placed in the right place in order to see God show up in an inexplicable way.  Give thanks to the Lord for how He has positioned you in the right place at the right time or where he has helped you to avoid harm.

I also think we can be challenged to reflect on the fine art of paying attention.   I don't think God intends for us to slosh through life in a state of oblivion - He wants us to be in tune to the circumstances around us, and recognize that there are possibilities for us to be used of Him everyday.  Konrad Lightner looked up and saw a child on the precipice of danger - if we look around us with just a little bit more intentionality, who knows what we might observe, and the conditions that are there for God to show Himself in a mighty and perhaps even miraculous way.   We do well to look up - to trust in the love and faithfulness of God - and to look around - to be willing for God to show us needs and to be prepared to be used of Him.