Why Ask For a Volkswagen?
From the moment she got out of the car I knew she wasn’t going to be my normal customer. She seemed delighted to be there which was strange since most are not in a good frame of mind as they grit their teeth and jump into the car buying process.
And I’ll admit to a bit of prejudging in her case. First, she looked sort of crazy….seventyish, sitting in her electric wheelchair with orange hair sticking straight up, apparently the victim of some hair coloring calamity. Second, she immediately pointed across the lot towards a bright blue, very expensive GMC and proclaimed that even though her credit was terrible, God had told her that it was going to be her next car. You know, I didn’t want to argue with God, but after looking at her credit it occurred to me that this might be my first car sale that would require divine intervention.
I’ll spare you the drudgery of the next couple hours of car talk, but in the end, we couldn’t find a way to get her into this car. But she was insistent. She believed so strongly that God wanted her to have that GMC that she kept increasing her downpayment until we finally got to a place where we hoped it might sway a bank.
With nothing but a sliver of hope we decided to send it to all the banks we had and let them decide if she could buy a car and which car she could buy.
Every bank turned her down…….except one. One little podunk bank that never approves anybody said ok and singled out the GMC as their choice for her. Ok, so at this point I’m paying attention to everything this lady says because I’m a little shell shocked!
Sometimes you just can’t imagine the people God will put people in your life that can change your thinking. And isn’t it just like God to send them wrapped in a package begging us to prejudge. I’ll be the first to admit, looking at this lady, messenger from God never crossed my mind. But after her car purchase was finished there was no way I was letting her leave without telling me more about this direct line to God that she seemed to enjoy.
I will never forget how she looked at me sort of sadly and said, “Mark, I don’t know why I see things that other people don’t, and that doesn’t even matter. What matters is why in the world would I ask God for a Volkswagen when He wants to give me a Cadillac?”
Sometimes the profound comes from unexpected places!
Every day I read Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon and the very next morning's teaching was about why we cannot see Jesus even though He is always there. As with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we don’t see Him because we don’t believe we will. He went on to say that to a great extent in spiritual things, we get what we expect of the Lord.
No offense to you VW owners out there but really….Why do we shortchange ourselves when we ask things of God?
The more I pondered this the more I realized that part of the reason I don’t ask for a Cadillac is because I don’t know my Cadillac. I don’t know what “more” I should be asking God for. I certainly want a Cadillac, but I’m kind of comfortable with Volkswagens and it’s easy to keep praying for the next one. But what if God is up there just hoping that one day I’ll come to my senses and give Him the ok to open up the storehouses of Heaven for me? And knowing my God, it would be just like Him to want to bless me crazy abundantly.
Of course this all begs the question of how?
Spurgeon knew the answer. He said to make it your prayer, “Lord open your servant's eyes so that I may see my Savior present with me and what He wills for me.” Then start looking and expecting Him to do it!
It’s difficult for me to get my head around it! That my little tiny bit of faith can move the creator of the universe’s hand. But the further I walk the more I see that faith is the only thing that bring us face to face with the Lord and the future He wants to give us.
I believe that old lady would have been astonished if a bank had not approved her car loan. What a way to live……completely shocked if God doesn’t answer your prayer and totally unsurprised if He does.
Keep following!
