Don’t Close the Door Too Fast
Posted: 03 Jun 2009 09:00 PM PDT
Tobit 6:10-11; 7:1, 9-17; 8:4-9a / Mk 12:28b-34
We can gain a good bit of wisdom by watching for the patterns in the world around us. What does this person or that group usually do? They’re likely to do it again. If a company has lost money for five years straight, you’d better look twice before you invest in it. And if no graduates from a given school have gotten into college in the past decade, you’d better think again before enrolling your children there.

Finding patterns can tell us a lot that’s useful and they can warn us away from serious mistakes, but it can also shut doors on opportunity. We see that in today’s Old Testament reading. Tobiah was faced with some hard facts about the woman he wanted to marry: She’d been married seven times and all seven husbands had been murdered! The meaning of the pattern appeared to be clear, but it wasn’t. The murders had not been done by her but by an enemy, and the poor woman was in need of rescue.

Tobiah didn’t close the door on her, but took her to himself. Together they gave themselves into the Lord’s care, and what seemed to be a disaster in the making was a marriage the lasted into old age.

God does not see as we see. He sees life and hope where they are hidden from our view. The prudent soul always watches for the patterns in life, but also knows to look beneath the surface where hidden riches await. Learn to see as God sees and you will never close a door too early.