I remember one occasion in my years past of handy man work where I did the proverbial “painting myself into a corner.” However, this was not with paint, it was with a large piece of glue-down carpet that I was laying in an open kitchen, walkway, and dining room. It was at least twenty feet long and just under twelve feet wide. The technique to lay it is to roll it out full length in the rooms, cut it in, roll one side up and apply glue to the floor and lay it down in the glue. You then roll the other side up, apply glue to the floor, and lay it down in the glue, and presto! Just a fit! However, when I walked into the kitchen to check it out, I discovered that it had “crawled” on me. One corner was lying in the glue at least six inches from the cabinets. The glue was getting stickier by the minute and somehow I had to get off the carpet and get on the glue covered floor and try to “pull” the carpet until it reached the cabinets. Once I got my feet in the glue, I could not get back on the carpet or the glue deposited on the carpet would ruin it. I prayed a long, complicated prayer in desperation. I said, “Jesus! Help me!” So I took my shoes off and found something to lie on the carpet to stand on after I got my feet in the glue. I then pulled that corner of carpet back and got in the slippery, wet glue on the floor (before it is cured), and proceeded to pull on the impossible and pray. With that large a piece of carpet lying in the glue, it took some desperately powerful pulling, but I did manage to pull the carpet to the cabinets to the place where the trim would cover the slight gap. I had reached the place where I got a miracle, or this job was going to be a big loss. Life can be much like the carpet that “crawled.”
Sometimes we face a situation where we either get a miracle or we are going to meet our Maker. The good news of Jesus is that through faith in his Word we can go for both. By faith in the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ and his righteousness, we can be prepared to meet our Maker at any time. At the same time, we can pray according to the promises of his Word, and expect a miracle. It is wise to get absolutely ready to meet our Maker, then stand on Mark 11:22-26, especially verse 24: Whatever are the things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. Jesus said when you have faith in God and believe in your heart and don’t doubt, you get what you speak. Get a miracle or meet your Maker. Apply the Word for both.