By Congcong
“Commit your way to Jehovah; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:5).
——Epigraph
I started to believe in the Lord along with my parents when I was little. Now I am a young Christian and work in the special effects industry as an intern. One time, when I was making a 3D model, I had difficulty in creating a texture mapping because the model I wanted to make had high requirements for simulation accuracy. That is, the model had to look very similar to the real things, so it required certain skills in creating the texture mapping, but that was precisely what I was not good at. I thought: “Although my art skills are lacking, I have learned much theoretical knowledge, and it’s impossible that I will fail to make it. In addition, among these interns, I am excellent in all aspects. There should be no problem in accomplishing this task.” Thinking of this, I gained some confidence and tried my utmost to do this task. I used various methods, but I still couldn’t achieve a good effect, which upset me very much.
One morning when I got up, my right arm hurt badly because I had used the mouse for long hours every day. I thought to myself: “I really work hard on this task, but why haven’t I seen any progress? Lord, I am not too lacking in skills, but why am I unable to accomplish it? Now my arm hurts; what is Your will behind this?”
I noticed there was a Bible on the table, so I picked it up and opened it. These verses caught my eye: “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight” (Matthew 11:25–26). Pondering these words of the Lord, I thought, “The Lord reveals His will to babes, but hides it from the wise and prudent. It stands to reason that the wise and prudent are people who are intelligent and possess caliber; why doesn’t the Lord enlighten them? And the Lord said, ‘it seemed good in Your sight.’ So, how should I understand the Lord’s good intentions?” I felt so confused at that moment.
Seeing that I was not looking well, my mother asked me if there was something bothering me. I then poured out all the difficulties and confusion I had at work in the past few days.
My mother said, “Do you rely on the Lord when encountering this difficulty? Or is it that you do the task by your own brain?” My mother’s words stirred me and I thought, “Yeah, why didn’t I rely on the Lord? The Lord is our greatest help.” At that moment, I remembered the verses that I had read just now, and I suddenly saw the light, “It turns out that I am being one of the wise and prudent. It seems reasonable that smart people should do things smoothly, but because I thought I knew some technical knowledge and had the ability to accomplish this task, I just did it relying on my own mind and caliber, having no place for the Lord in my heart, which caused me to run up against walls all the time at work. It turns out that the Lord’s will is for me to reflect on myself and repent quickly.” At that moment, I came to have some understanding of the Lord’s words “it seemed good in Your sight.” I couldn’t help but say to the Lord in my heart, “Lord, I now understand Your good will. If You hadn’t arranged this situation and allowed me to encounter setbacks, I wouldn’t realize the importance of relying on You, but would continue to rely on myself in doing things and get further and further from You. Lord, I have seen Your good intentions. Everything You do is good. Now I realize that I can’t achieve anything by relying on myself because all things are within Your control. Lord, I am willing to repent, put aside my own opinions, and lean on You like a babe. I will entrust my work in Your hands. May You lead me through the difficulties!”
After that, I went back to work and felt a sense of peace in my heart. I did the same work as before with the mouse, but to my great surprise, this time my mind was clear, and inspirations began to come to me. Unknowingly, I mastered some art skills. I clearly felt that the Lord was secretly helping me, and I was very at ease and peace in my heart. When the render was finished, I found the effect was unexpectedly ideal. At that moment, my heart was full of gratitude to the Lord. I never expected that I could easily overcome the technical hurdles in less than two days, which I previously failed to overcome after several days’ hard work. I remembered the words recorded in the Bible, “Except Jehovah build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except Jehovah keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain” (Psalm 127:1). Amen! The Lord’s great power and wisdom are unfathomable to us humans, and everything is controlled by God. The most important thing is whether we have a humble heart before the Lord.
The Lord Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3–4). These words of the Lord allowed me to understand: The Lord loves those who are humble like little children and He will reveal His will to such people. This is because little children are pure, innocent, and honest in their hearts without deceit. However, we are not as innocent and honest as the little children, and our minds are occupied with our own opinions and thoughts, so we always think we can do this and that, and can deal with things smoothly without relying on the Lord. The Lord is meek and lowly in heart. When we encounter setbacks in real life, He helps us and uses His words to guide us to understand His will, hoping that we can humble ourselves before Him, put aside our own opinions and plans no matter what problems we face, and acknowledge our insignificance. As long as we look up to and pray to the Lord with our hearts, He will let us see His deeds.
