Three starving boys were scavenging for food in their village of Hinnah Malen, Sierra Leone on the African Continent. Their parents had been killed by rebels two years earlier in 1995.
Now, they were digging in the dirt for yams to feed their hunger pains. The oldest boy among them, 14-year-old Morie Jah, found the leafy top of a plant, dug down, and uncovered a large yam. But as he pulled the yam from the ground he found something else lying beneath it—a clear, sparkling rock, about the size of a tennis ball, more beautiful than anything they had ever seen. Sensing he may have discovered a treasure worth many yams, Morie brought the rock to a gem dealer in town. What had he found? A 100-carat diamond valued at $500,000.00! In his quest for a minor meal, Morie Jah stumbled upon a life-changing fortune.
Think about the things we pray about. Life confronts us with challenges and problems that drive us to God for help. He answers and the crisis is soon behind us. But little time passes before another need comes our way. Again we plead for God to help us, with a sense of urgency as if He has never helped us before. Again God meets the need and the problem is history. Then another issue arises. And we continue the pattern of seeking divine deliverance from the things we fear and God continues to care for us.
But are we missing something? Something beyond the mere answer to our prayers? Is God trying to reveal a priceless gem of truth, the precious jewel of His unfailing love for us that lies underneath every answer to our prayers? Are we looking for a yam and missing the diamond beneath it? “Behold—look, contemplate, ponder—what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us,” the Scripture commands (1 John 3:1). In other words “Don’t overlook God’s love for you.” Don’t just go from crisis to crisis and miss the love that surrounds you and will never forsake you or fail to care for you.
PRAYER:
Dear Father in heaven, please grant that I may not merely take from the hand, but look also into the face of the One from Whom all blessings flow. Amen.
In article photo: Orphanage of Saint Joseph in Al Qosh, Iraq by U.S. Army licensed under CC BY 2.0
