Why is God Picking on Me?

Last week, a young mom unburdened herself to me.  Her baby was cutting new teeth and was not sleeping or eating.  Her house needed unexpected repairs, requiring her and her baby to temporarily move out.  Her husband was called in to see his boss.  The boss wanted to know if he was really committed to the company.  She finished her recital of troubles by asking, “Why does it feel like God is picking on me?”

I’ve learned that when people are in pain, it is hard for them to hear theological viewpoints (see the Book of Job).  The best thing to do is listen, comfort, and assure people that God is at work and he wants good for them.

I felt pretty good about my response… until Friday came.

I had to pick up my boat from a shop in Columbia.  On the way back to Sumter, I hit something on the Interstate, which bent the fender up on the boat trailer and peeled the tire back.  The tire came apart, and I had to pull over to the emergency lane.

I don’t believe in karma, but if I did, I would have noted the irony that two weeks ago, I wrote about my cousin Ned having a flat tire, but someone had stolen his block of wood that lifts up his jack.  Guess what was missing from the back of my truck?  You got it – my big block of wood.  I crossed my fingers and started to jack up the trailer.  I could get the old tire off, but I couldn’t get the new tire on.  I let the jack down, but now it was stuck under the trailer.  Not a problem.  I got out my scissor jack from the truck and started jacking up the trailer again.

Keep in mind that all this labor was happening about four feet from the interstate, with semi-trucks going by at 70 mph.  I began to hum, “Nearer My God to Thee.”  I kept turning the handle on the scissor jack, but the trailer was not going up.  Instead, I was bending the aluminum cross-piece up at a 30-degree angle.  I cranked the handle backwards and bent it.  I took a hammer and beat the scissor jack out.  Now my trailer was sitting on the axle.

All this took about an hour.  At the end of the hour, my shirt soaked through with sweat, I thought, “I have money.  I have a credit card.  I can call someone to do this for me.”  I made a couple of calls, and about thirty minutes later, a nice young man showed up to change the tire.  He had an air compressor, an airbag lift, and he had the trailer up in no time.  Then he came to the window of the truck, where I was inhaling the air conditioning, and told me that to change the tire, he would have to remove the bent fender, and it would cost $75 more.  At this point, I didn’t care.  He took off the fender, got the new tire on, and I was on my way, driving slower to Sumter than I ever drove.

I drove straight to the tire store and bought two new heavy-duty tires.  Then I had to run some legal documents to the notary so I could fax them to Florida.  After I faxed them, the attorney’s office in Florida called and told me the notary forgot to stamp a page.  Then the tire store called and said the boat was ready.  I picked up the boat, went back to the notary, dropped the boat off at another place to get new fenders, then went back to the house to scan and fax the documents again. 

From there, I went out to the pasture to feed the cows.  The bull had pushed down the gate, and they were all mixed up.  I started to fix the gate, and the rusted bolt snapped in half.  I went to the hardware store, but by then it started to rain, so I couldn’t get back to fix the gate.

It was about this time that the thought formed in my head, “Why is God picking on me?”  But I already knew the answer.  God was not picking on me.  Was he using circumstances to teach me patience?  Definitely.  Was he teaching me my limitations?  Probably.  Did he remind me of what I had written two weeks before about finding joy in changing flat tires?  Yes.

God does not cause everything that happens to you, but he can teach you through everything that happens to you.  It was a day to learn patience, to remember I am not in control, and that whatever happened to me on any day, God was with me.

One of the most important spiritual habits to cultivate is to review your day with God and ask, “What do I need to learn?  What did I do that requires forgiveness?  When did God protect me, encourage me, and show me his presence?”

God does not pick on people, but God wants you to learn some things from your day.  Even from flat tires, broken bolts, and papers that have to be sent twice.

PS: I told my cousin Ned about the flat tire, and he said it was a sign from God that I needed to buy a new boat.