Chris Bailey III - Grow Taller or Lower The Branches

2 Corinthians 12:9 KJV - 9 And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Naming the tallest land animal is probably not one of the more difficult nature questions.  The undisputed answer is "the giraffe!"  What most people may not know if why the giraffe was created so tall.  If we could ask a giraffe what its favorite food is, these giant herbivores (plant-based creatures) would probably vote for acacia leaves.  It turns out that acacia trees can grow at a rate as fast as 3 feet a year eventually reaching a mature height of 20-50 feet.  For a giraffe, with an average height of 16-20 feet and a tongue up to 2 feet long, it would seem that our Creator reveals both His wisdom and care, in giving His tallest creature a food source that is in their reach, and height that enables them to reach it.

Psalm 147:8-9 KJV - 8 [The LORD] covereth the heaven with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, [and] to the young ravens which cry.

If God does this everyday for giraffes, ravens, and all of His creatures, what less should we expect Him to do for the ones He made in His image and for the ones He made the giraffes, ravens, and all creatures for?  I am a living witness that God provides for us by enabling us to grow taller, lowering the branches to our reach, or both!  Case in point, our family has been looking for a desk for our home.  We actually need two so that we can work at the same time to study, write, record & edit videos, etc.  But after pricing a few, two desks were in our hearts but not in our budget.  In comes the LORD, the Creator. 

While at Aldi for a grocery run, our girls stayed in the car and ate snacks while Tara was on the phone with a friend.  So I, Chris, go inside and God provides all the food we needed from the store.  But as I am walking out the exit door, I glance over to the other side of the entrance door and see a pallet full of desks for sale.  They look good and now it's time to see if their "priced good".  Abandoning my cart, I walk around to see that the desks are reasonably priced $99.99 to $74.99, but they are on clearance for $49.99.  There it is!  I think the name "Chris" might be Aramaic or Sumerian for "clearance" because this seemed like the answer to prayer.  So I snap a few pictures of the desks and price tag to run the idea by Tara and the girls.  They liked them so I go back inside with Jai'el so we can pull off this team lift to get the box into the car.  Arriving at the checkout with a smile, I pull the cart around so the cashier can scan the box and she tells us the total...$26.43.  $26.43?  I asked her again and she just shook her head up and down.  Next question, "Can I get two?"  She shook her head up and down.  I came to the counter with a smile but left in shock and awe! 

Did our Creator just do what He does?  And did He just do it without me even asking?  He blessed us and made us tall enough to go after the $49.99, but to show how he could do both, He lowered the branch from $99.99 to $74.99 to $49.99 to $25.00+tax - without us even asking!  Brother and sisters, thank God for the bless up!  But as we walk and wait on the LORD, read the verses that follow Psalm 147:8-9.  Psalm 147:9-10 says -

Psalm 147:10-11 KJV - 10 [The LORD] delighteth not in the strength of the horse: He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.

God is pleased when we hope in Him!  Whether we are blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10, the woman with the demon-possessed daughter in Matthew 15, or the dude looking for a desk in Aldi on a rainy Sunday night, when we obey God by trusting Jesus, and hope in His mercy to lower the branch or stand in His grace that makes us taller, He gets a chance to do what only He can do, create in us; and to do what He really wants to do - care for us!