“REED” This
Little Things Matter
Last night as I was driving home, I came to a light that was red, so I pulled up to the line and stopped. Even though I’d been driving for about twenty minutes it wasn’t until then that I noticed smoke coming up through the sides of the hood of my truck. I quickly looked to the temperature gauge on my display and saw that the needle was past hot. I immediately began to pray, “Lord, please let me just make it home.” I was about two to three miles away and thought once I began to move and airflow was restored, my temperature should come down some. The light turned green and I was moving once again, only the temperature stayed pegged as high as it could go. I knew that driving while the engine was that hot was not the smartest thing to do, but I had to get home. Stopping on the side of the road would do me no good. Thankfully, I pulled into my driveway and came to a stop. I quickly turned off the motor and began to thank the Lord for getting me home. I opened the hood and looked into the engine compartment knowing what the problem was. You see, a few days before, I got out of the truck and heard a hissing noise. I also smelled hot engine coolant. I opened the hood and found that a small hose underneath the intake manifold was leaking coolant out onto the top of the motor. The clamp was no longer in place at the end and had moved, or been moved, down about two inches from where it should have been. So, this morning, I knew I needed to get that clamp back in place and refill my radiator before I could drive my truck again. That hose placement was almost impossible to get to, of course, and that clamp would not cooperate at all. I worked for almost an hour trying to move it back into place, but it wouldn’t budge. I decided to just fill up the radiator and the reservoir with water, go in and take a shower, then try to make it to the mechanic.
It’s always little things that cause trouble. That clamp only has a diameter of half an inch, but because of the pressure on that hose and it not being in the right place, it was useless, and my engine was about to burn up. Little things seem to be insignificant, but they are still very important. Moses struck the rock instead of just speaking to it, and he was kept from going into the promised land (Numbers 20:7-11). King David should have been with his men in battle, but he chose to stay home. While looking out from his rooftop, he saw a woman bathing and wanted her. Instead of looking away, he called for her and committed adultery (2 Samuel 11). Little things, little compromises, can be or lead to sin. “Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” (James 1:14-15) What may seem small and insignificant, can grow into something that can destroy. Moses thought instead of just speaking to the rock like God had told him, he could strike it in his anger and that would be okay. But that “little” disobedience cost him the joy of leading the children of Israel into the promised land. David, thought it would be okay to stay home that Spring, thought it was okay to look a little too long at the woman bathing, and it caused him to commit adultery, murder, and cost him the life of his child and great shame. Little things matter. Praying may seem like a little thing, but it is vitally important. Reading God’s Word every day may seem like a little thing, but it is vitally important. Spending time with God every day may seem like a little thing, but it is vitally important. Satan loves to deceive us into neglecting little things that are actually big things. He convinces us that they are insignificant, but we should know better and should listen to the Holy Spirit instead. When we have those little things in our lives, we are much more in tune with the Holy Spirit and what He is saying, so we are less likely to commit sin. And then we are ready to do the bigger things He wants us to do.
I made it to the mechanic. Turns out the end of the hose had ruptured and moving the clamp wouldn’t have fixed the problem. He let the engine cool down for about an hour so he wouldn’t burn his hands, cut off the bad end of the hose and removed the old clamp, then reconnected the hose with the slack that remained and used a new clamp in the right place to hold it tight. He once again refilled the radiator and told me to start it up. The truck started and it ran for about a minute or so with no leaks. Praise the Lord it was fixed and has run fine the rest of the day.
That little hose and clamp in the right place and working properly keeps my entire engine and truck running. Without them it would not run well or for very long. We all need to make sure the little things in our spiritual lives are in the right place so we can be working properly for the Lord.
Bro. Paul Reed
Tuesday, July 12, 2022