If you showed me a waffle and offered me half, I would reply, "It depends on how you slice it." Here's why.
I was the youngest of three boys—the baby of the family, the rambunctious one, the pill. Ten years stretched between us. My two older siblings had already spent five years bonding before I joined the nest, so I was at the bottom of the heap, the "Hand-me-down Kid."
All of which goes to explain my penchant for being a pest—the default mode for little brothers in my generation which often backfired.
I well remember the surge of mischievous glee I felt when my brother agreed to eat half a waffle if I ate the other half. "Whatever I put on that waffle, you'll eat half of it?" I said incredulously. "Sure, but I get to choose which half," he replied with a smile. Too delighted to see trouble brewing, I concocted a revolting mixture of garlic and cayenne pepper, among other sundry spreads and spices in the kitchen.
When I triumphantly presented him with the awful waffle, he took a knife, and according to our agreement, sliced it in half. But that's where the level playing field began to tip. For, instead of cutting right down the middle, he sliced it laterally, separating the TOP half from the bottom. I remember him laughing uncontrollably while nibbling the pristine bottom half of the waffle as I stared at the TOP half slathered with the horrific paste. My memory gets a bit fuzzy after that.
As a pest, I was easily vanquished. Our universal adversary, however, was once the most revered of angels. His intellect and capacity for evil are always ten steps ahead of the sharpest human mind.
You may recently have been one of his targets. You can testify that his aim is nearly perfect. With devilish intuition honed over milleniums, he knows just where to hit us at the worst time and in the worst place.
But our Father has an amazing way of turning evil back upon itself, just as Joseph said to his brothers: "As far as I am concerned, God turned into good what you meant for evil" (Gen. 50:20). And the familiar old promise in Romans 8:28 still rings true: "For all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes."
In spite of my rambunctious early days, I've seen God at work. I believe in His ability to turn barriers into blessings, problems into possibilities, and obstacles into opportunities.
So, when faced with the enemy's worst challenge, remember the awful waffle. Give it to God and let Him wield the knife.
I believe in God's ability to turn barriers into blessings, problems into possibilities, and obstacles into opportunities.
