Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
As many who follow may know, I have had the privilege to know the Lord for over 40 years. During those decades, He has proved Himself to be a faithful, kind and loving Savior. And as I have learned to lean on Jesus, He has shown Himself to be a merciful Savior, never wavering, even in some very dark times.
This topical series will try to provide a snapshot of an ol’ fools prayers, the weakness and selfishness of his prayers, and the ever increasing goodness of God in His responses the those prayers.
I hope my witness to the goodness and faithfulness of God will be an encouragement to those reading, and will spur us all on to a deeper, more consistent time of being in the Lord’s presence.
Please visit with me as I tell the story of a faithful God and His care for an ol’ fool. Though David considered himself a poor man, I freely admit, I am just an “ol’ fool” looking to the Lord.
Miles
When I speak of Miles, I am not speaking of a unit of measure but of a neighbor next door. I introduced my reader to this neighbor back in Psalms for Psome – Ps 7, in describing how the intents of a evil man backfires, as they lay traps for others and yet fall in them themselves.
At first Miles was a neighborly fellow, waving as we walked by, nodding occasionally, even stopping us on the sidewalk to take a peak at our littlest one, and speak of how cute our little “wabbit” girl was.
It was – for a short time – an ideal situation, and the neighborhood seemed to be at peace.
Until my wife called me at work and asked me to come home. The police were in our back yard with Miles, and there was some sort of trouble!
Let me take you back to the weekend previously. My sweet wife asked for a clothes line and I thought a twelve foot pole would be sufficient for the task. And since we lived in Canada at the time, the hole needed to be at least 4′ 6″ deep to avoid the frost line. So for the better part of the Saturday, yours truly dug that hole for my wifey, wasting the spoils near the hole.
Some of the soil from the hole fell onto public land behind our home.
Once Miles saw this travesty, he set off to correct this criminal action. He resolutely entered our yard, filled in the hole, and called the police. By the time I got there, it seemed things had calmed down, and that Miles was satisfied with the result. I still had to redig the hole, so I wasn’t all that happy, but this was the beginning of 3 years of incredible activity by a man that I can only assume was a paranoid schizoid.
He placed barbwire in the small fir trees behind his yard – on the public property – knowing my kids played out there. He strung barbed wire along the fence line between our homes. He wrote disgusting letters, trying to break up families in the neighborhood, signing my name to the letters. We were in court 3 times with him. primarily due to him accusing my sweet wife of threatening him.
I could go on and on about this poor man.
To make matters worse, I was in the midst of furthering my education, and would be away from home for extended times six days of the week, and my sweet wife, with our five kiddos, lived under the shadow of Miles.
Make no bones about it, my wife was intimidated continuously, either by his truck facing the master bedroom in the home, with his high beams on, or by kicking the hedge as my wife was doing her gardening. I could go on and on.
Ok Carl – this post is supposed to be about answered prayer, not a whine fest about a lousy neighbor.
That be true, and as we asked for protection from the Lord above, and sought to pray for Miles instead of seeking revenge, we found the Lord ever present in His care for us.
As a matter of fact, through the years of oppression under Miles, we found many instances where we saw the humor of God shine through, relieving the stress of our situation.
But more importantly, in all our interactions with this man, we found the Lord’s protection to be a continual answer to prayer.
To this day, when I think of that period in our family’s life, I am so thankful for the Lord’s mercies over such an extended period of time and from a man who was clearly unbalanced.
Thanks for joining and Considering The Bible with me. Your thoughts are always welcome, and I look forward to hearing of the faithfulness of God in your lives.
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