The Tractor Key. Victory in Trouble Series Part 2.


How do we trust blindly?

Friends, God in His mercy has given us tips on how to do this, and the first tip comes to us from an incident that I experienced over a missing tractor key ...

It's just a tiny piece of metal, but without it, the lawn tractor won't go anywhere, and this was our experience a couple of summers ago when the lawn tractor ran out of gas out by the road. My son, who was thinking ahead, decided it wasn't safe to leave the key with the tractor while I drove into town for a can of gas, and he proceeded to put it in a very safe place.

The only problem with his little plan: He couldn't remember just where that "safe" place might have been! And being Friday evening, there wasn't anything we could do about it except push the tractor into the garage.

Of course, all local locksmiths were closed the next two days as well, and Monday-Wednesday are way too busy with going to work early and working late to even be able to make a phone call. I didn't have time to deal with it until Thursday, when I finally got off work on time and drove to the local locksmith. He gave me a universal tractor key to try, but he was doubtful that it would work. He told me that if it didn't work, just to bring the ignition switch in and he'd make me a key.

Sounded simple enough, but the universal key didn't work, and the ignition switch was connected to the motor with five wires, all of which were soldered into place! The only way to remove the ignition switch would be to cut those wires, and for someone who knows as little about such things as I do, it looked like it would be quite the job. What if the tractor didn't work at all afterwards?

I was discouraged. There didn't seem to be any way to get the machine running without paying a locksmith for a service call, and even then, I wasn't sure he'd be able to fix it on site.

And of course, it didn't help that the grass didn't stop growing just because the tractor was out of service. We literally had a hay field for a yard, and besides worrying about how I was going to replace the key, I was also worried about how the grass was going to be cut! An acre and a half is a bit much for our tiny push mower!

I worried about it all night, but the next morning, while having my morning devotions, I came to the part of my usual prayer where I asked God to help me to give Him ALL my problems. I even asked Him to help me to thank Him for them. And then I remembered the tractor key. I hadn't given that problem to Him, and I certainly wasn't thanking Him for it!

So I did just that. I gave the problem of the tractor key to God, and I was immediately overwhelmed with a sense of peace. Somehow I knew that the problem would be resolved before the day was out.

At breakfast time, my husband handed me a flyer from the company where we have the tractor serviced. "Call them," he said. "They have spare keys!"

"They do???" I quipped. "Why didn't you tell me last weekend?"

But then it really wasn't his lack of information that would have saved me the worry, was it? No, I could have been saved all of that worry by simply giving the problem to God immediately, instead of carrying it with me all week!

And herein lays an important "key" to blindly trusting God to get us through: We have to surrender the problem completely to Him, and the moment we do, we have total peace. The solution is on the way. Is it for naught that Peter tells us, "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:6-7 NKJV)? And if that isn't clear enough, then consider Paul's words: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7 NKJV)

But wait. Isn't completely surrendering a problem to God just as impossible-sounding as blindingly trusting God?

Unfortunately for me, it is. And knowing human-kind the way He does, God has given us other tips, things we can do so that we CAN completely surrender a problem to God, so that we CAN blindly trust!

Lyn Chaffart

For more devotionals in the Victory in Trouble Series, please go to http://scripturalnuggets.org/

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