Twice Over

Many years ago I took my young nephew Mark to an ice cream shop located next to a dairy farm.

He ordered a single-scoop chocolate ice cream cone. We walked outside to enjoy our treats and watch the cows grazing nearby. 

Distracted by the animals, Mark tipped his cone and the ice cream plopped to the ground. I watched his crestfallen face as the chocolate melted into the dirt.
                                        
We hurried back to the store to buy another cone, but the shop owner refused our money. Instead he freely gave us a replacement cone, with a double scoop of ice cream—one chocolate, one vanilla.

The owner gave Mark twice over what he had lost!

Sometimes we may feel like Mark, watching sadly as sweet things in our lives slip away.

The older we get, the more things can escape our grip and fall away from us—treasured relationships, pain-free mobility, mental alertness, financial reserves.

Losses accumulate until our hearts nearly break.

If we are wise, we hurry like Mark back to the Owner. We run to the Lord with our melted hopes and dissolving strength. We tell God our griefs and lay our losses at his feet.

Staying in his presence, we begin to sense encouragement. We hear what the Lord said to some Old Testament believers who faced terrible losses:

Return to your place of safety. Now I tell you that I will repay you twice over with blessing for all you have suffered. (Zech. 9:12 TEV)

I will give you back what you lost in the years when swarms of locusts ate your crops. (Joel 2:25 TEV)

When Job prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes.In fact, the LORD gave him twice as much as before! (Job 42:10 NLT)

I am amazed at the Lord’s generosity, giving back twice over what was lost.  

How does he do that for us? What can possibly replace the accumulated losses in our lives as we grow older?    

What he gives us is more of himself. The Lord himself becomes the “twice over” blessing in our lives.

If someone were to give us the sun, we would automatically also receive light, warmth and energy since these are inherent in the sun itself. Just so, when God gives himself to us, we automatically receive benefits inherent in God’s character—blessings like these:

• his deep peace (II Thess. 3:16)
• his strong comfort (II Cor. 1:3-4)
• his confident hope (Romans 15:13)
• his lavish love (I John 3:1)
• his strengthening grace (I Peter 5:10)

No matter what may fall from our lives in old age, we can trust the Lord to become the twice-over blessing that outweighs our losses!  

                           ©MarionSpeicherBrown