God Cares About the Towels
Published Apr 26, 2022
God cares about the towels.
A month or so ago, after a busy day our family got home from AWANA and our son was crying about his belly hurting. He isn’t normally a “crier”, so we immediately went into detective mode to figure out what was causing this. We went through all the questions and determined he might very well be dehydrated and gave him some water. We got him to take some deep breaths to calm down and sat at the dining room table. The other six kids stood around him, concerned for their brother.
Then came the words…the words that I’m pretty sure any person ever doesn’t want to hear. “I think I’m going to throw up!”
I encouraged him to go to the bathroom and my husband about sprinted to the kitchen to grab a bowl.
Both attempts at a way to contain the imminent puke were not successful. As soon as he stood up, it all came out. I could use a lot of descriptive words to describe the moment, but I’m literally still trying to block it out of my mind…and don’t need you to try to do the same. We will just say, it was an impressive amount of puke out of a 13 year old boy.
I sat in the dining room chair frozen. I stared back and forth between my son, who now proclaimed he was feeling better, and the puke. Not even knowing what to do.
My husband told the other kids to just go to bed (thankfully they had all gotten ready for bed) they happily obliged while plugging their noses all the way upstairs. Then went into clean up mode. I’m not even kidding a little bit when I tell you I was still staring at the puke.
My oldest daughter had NOT gone upstairs to bed, I realized, and came out with towels from the laundry to cover the puke.
My husband came back into the dining room with paper towel and a plastic bag. I looked at him and asked, “Doesn’t this just make you want to sit down and cry?” He replied, “No. It makes me want to clean it up. Can you please help?”
I snapped out of my staring, for a moment, and told my oldest to join her siblings upstairs. Then I stared at my husband kneeling on the floor. He was mumbling to himself “I don’t know why she used towels. How is this going to work? Now we have to wash the towel. I know she was trying to help.”
Given the level of exhaustion and staring I was doing again, I said, “You know what? Grab a big black garbage bag. Just throw the towels away. They’re old. This will be easier. I don’t even care.”
And that’s what we did. We cleaned up the mess with the towels as much as we could and sprayed and wiped up with paper towels the rest. I’m still praising God that this episode of being sick was the only one our son had that night AND no one else puked.
WHEW! What a very long introduction…we’re getting closer to the point!
Two days later the kids and I were going to a local discount store. You know, the ones that buy stuff in bulk and sell it for amazing deals?! I planned on stopping at a store afterwards to buy towels. Before we left, though, I prayed. I prayed like a crazy lady. I was loud and jumping around being silly. I prayed “LOOOOOOORD!! If it is YOUR WILL…PLEASSSSSSE provide us towels at David’s!!” I prayed it multiple times and even though I was having fun with it, I was also being very sincere. I was also being pretty real with myself, I knew there hadn’t even been towels there before.
We got to the store and I was wandering around in my favorite aisle (the office supplies!!) when I saw a lady pushing a cart full of goodies. You know already, don’t you? Her cart full of goodies included a pack of towels.
I walked up to her and said “Where did you find those towels?! Are there still more?!” It was HER turn to stare at this lady walking up to her excited over towels. She said “Yes, there are more, back there,” pointing to the back of the store. I almost jumped up and down holding onto her cart. I said “oh my word!! you don’t even know!! This is a complete answer to a prayer! I prayed before we came here that David’s would have towels and HE DOES!!” If she was staring before, she was staring even more, NOW! 😉
I about skipped to the back of the store and found some very nice towels and called my husband gushing over how cool our God is. How God provided towels. Towels I had prayed that He could provide at David’s. Towels I had been convinced that I would need to buy ELSEWHERE, but didn’t need to now.
Because.
Because God is Jehovah-Jireh.
Jehovah-Jireh: “The Lord Will Provide.”
Look again.
It doesn’t say “The Lord might Provide” it says “The Lord WILL Provide.”
God is the God who cares about all of our needs. He cares about the towels. God is the God who provides for all of our needs. He cares about he towels.
We see this name for God in Genesis 22:14—“And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”
Abraham and Isaac had just made the journey up the mountain for Isaac to be sacrificed. On the way up the mountain, Isaac asked Abraham where the sacrifice was. Abraham reassured him that God will provide the lamb. Abraham built the altar. Arranged the wood. Bound up his son Isaac.
((Can we just take a moment, here? Can you IMAGINE being Abraham and doing this to your son? This son that was waited for. This son that was waited for, for SO LONG. Now, here he was bound to the altar. Now here you are, willingly binding him to the altar to sacrifice.))
Abraham reached out. Took the knife. The knife that would be used to slaughter his son. Do you think his hands were trembling? Before going up the mountain he told the other two young men along with them “The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” (Genesis 22:5)
Up until this point do you think he was asking himself where the Lord was? If what he believed about the Lord providing a lamb was REALLY going to happen? Where his hands trembling ashe reached out for the knife?
THEN!! The angel of the Lord called his name. The angel of the Lord told Abraham “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” (Genesis 22:12)
Whew!! Can you imagine Abrahams feelings? Feelings of the Lords reassurance to himself. Feelings of gratitude. Feelings of all the things.
But what happens next has to be even more breathtaking for him. He looked up and saw a ram stuck in the thicket by it’s horns. A ram without blemish that would be used as a burnt offering…instead of his son. (I often wonder if the ram had to have been there the entire time. If the Lord just had Abrahams eyes “closed” to seeing it, until just the right moment. I’m adding this to my list of questions to ask the Lord in heaven.)
What happened on that same mountain 2000 years later would be breathtaking for all of mankind. The sacrifice of God’s OWN SON for OUR sins.
Because God is Jehovah-Jireh.
The God who provides.
The God who cares about each of us and our needs.
The God who cares about the towels.
