Bible Society of South Africa
Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Are you grateful? – Day 3

Faith of a child

Bible text(s)

Mark 10

Jesus Blesses Little Children

13Some people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples scolded the people. 14When Jesus noticed this, he was angry and said to his disciples, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

Mark 10:13-15GNBOpen in Bible reader

A colleague supplied the following testimony, demonstrating God’s ability to answer a child’s prayer:

Luané: “In the first month after moving from Bellville to Somerset West, my young son, Mikal, had to drive with me to his old school in Bellville each morning as we waited for him to be placed in a new school. With the knowledge that he can barely sit still for 15 minutes, I needed something that would keep him busy while on the road in the mornings and afternoons.

Within the first week on the road, Mikal developed an absolute love for trucks. Our game was, ‘Guess what can possibly be inside the truck’ as it passed. These guesses ranged from a truck full of clowns to a truck filled with puppies – this of course caused a lot of laughter. When a big Spar truck drove past one morning, my son gasped and exclaimed: ‘Mum, that is the most beautiful truck I have ever seen!’ That changed our game to looking for the Spar truck on our journey. When we did see it, Mikal would almost jump through the roof with excitement.

Then it happened. Two days went by without any Spar trucks passing us on the road. I was running out of excuses of where they could be and on the third morning, Mikal got into the car with the request that we should pray. Then he prayed: ‘Dear Lord Jesus, please let me see it today.’ I immediately knew he was referring to the Spar truck. After his prayer, Mikal quietly sat back in his seat and started watching the road – in faith.

We didn’t see any Spar trucks on the way, but when we turned around the last corner close to the school, Mikal suddenly shouted with excitement! Right in front of us was a parked Spar truck. People were busy unloading goods. I immediately stopped and we took a picture of Mikal next to the truck, knowing that his ‘dear Lord Jesus’ not only answered his prayer to see the truck, but he added the bonus of us being able to take a picture next to it.

I posted the picture and story on Facebook. What happened next, was totally unexpected. One of my friends bought Mikal his own mini Spar truck. He received it with a big smile, saying: ‘Mummy, Jesus is so good to me.’ Also, one of Spar’s employees saw the story and invited Mikal to Spar’s distribution centre. Again, Mikal gasped for air as he saw twenty Spar trucks standing side by side. This time he got to climb into one and blow the horn. I had to wipe away my own tears of gratitude, realising that God honoured this little child’s faith that is as big as a truck.”

Luané is right. God wants us to have faith like a child. In Mark 10:13-15, we read Jesus’ response to his disciples being angry with the parents who brought their children to him to be blessed: “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

What are you praying for today? May we continue to pour our hearts out before God, like Mikal did, and wait to see what he will do. We might just experience how God also brings our “truck”, to a halt right in front of us. God bless.

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