The Teacher

"... one person sharpens the wits of another. ..." (Proverbs 27:17)

Sandra overheard her two young daughters, seven and five, discussing her pregnancy. Kelsey, the younger one, was quite concerned about how the baby got out of her mother’s tummy when it was ready to be born.

"You don’t know nothin’," Cammie said, shaking her head. "That’s what a belly button is for. They just undo it and pull the baby out."

"How come I can’t undo mine?"

" ’Cause you have to wait until you’re all growed up and God puts a baby in there. He wouldn’t put it in there if there wasn’t a way to get it out."

"Cammie, do you think God knows even more than Mom?"

When Sandy told me this story, we laughed until the tears came. It’s a wonderful story, and Kelsey knew a fact that too often we adults ignore. God does know more than we do. We get so hung up with planning and worrying, and we forget to leave the problems in God’s hands. A God who can figure out a way for a baby to be born can also show us the way out of our troubles. We just have to accept the fact that God knows more than we do.

Beyond the Door
1. It’s so tough sometimes to "Let go and let God." Can you recall a time in your life when you did, finally, "leave things to God"? How did you feel?

2. It’s not a far step from Cammie’s "God wouldn’t put a baby in there if there wasn’t a way to get it out" to the truth that God never leaves us in trouble without providing a way out. Numerous hymns and Bible verses remind us of that truth. Which ones come to your mind?

3. Someone has said, "God stays up all night anyway; so when you go to bed, just give your problems to God — and go to sleep." What’s one problem in your life right now that you’d like to give over to God? Just do it.

4. Listen—could it be that God is calling you to remind you that you are the creature and God is the Creator? Check out "Listen, God Is Calling" (hymn 712 in With One Voice) to see what three things God wants us to have. What a God!