Ed Jones
Quite a while ago, when my soon-to-be 26-year-old granddaughter Hannah was four, she noticed that I was agitated about something. The fact that I can’t now recall what caused my anxiety testifies to just how serious it was. Wanting to help her granddad, she climbed up on my lap, looked at me intently, her tender face reflecting her concern, and asked, “What’s the matter, Pop?”
I replied briefly, not wanting to burden her with my problem. She pouted, looked away obviously thinking through what I had just revealed, and again questioned, “Why don’t you give your problem to God?”
Amused at the simplicity and sincerity of her question, I asked, “Why should I do that, Hannah?” She thought for another long moment and replied, “I think He’s going to be up all night anyhow!”
How utterly innocent and profound! She had summed up my problem and course of action in one simple statement. My God would indeed be up all night, so I could rest in the fact that He could handle any concern, great or small, that I might have.
It reminded me of the story in Matthew 21, where the Lord was healing all manner of illness. It reads: “14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they became indignant 16 and said to Him, ‘Do You hear what these children are saying?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself?’”
The Pharisees and other leaders wanted Christ to rebuke the children for shouting their recognition of the authority by which He healed. Instead, He rebuked the leaders, quoting Psalm 8:2, thus showing that these children had a depth of knowledge and faith totally foreign to them.
On that afternoon long ago, sweet Hannah reminded me of the ultimate healer upon whom I could cast all of my cares. Although now almost 26 and married, a wedding she asked me to officiate, she still reflects that innocence that continues to help me focus on my Savior and not my problems.
Ed Jones pastors Fellowship At The Ranch Church at Robson Ranch. This nondenominational church meets at the Robson clubhouse on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Visit Fellowship’s website www.fellowshipattheranchchurch.org for information.