So there I was, a very new Christian.  I had recently totaled my Chevy Blazer, and I was looking to buy a car to replace it.  Not fully understanding that I should pray about such a decision, I just went ahead and launched into a car search.  Since my finances were very tight, and since I only needed the car for occasional use, I decided to look for a used car through the classified ads.  I found one that looked great – it was a low mileage, relatively new Hyundai Sonata.  I compared the asking price to the Blue Book value, and low and behold it was priced far less than what the Blue Book said.  Looking back, that should have set off some warning alarms, but I was excited and naïve and I wanted to get the car.

So I bought the car and drove it out to the suburbs for a Wednesday night prayer meeting.  The Pastor started talking about how everyone was familiar with the book of Job from the Bible, and then he stopped.  Realizing that I was a new believer he specifically asked me if I was familiar with the book of Job.  And I had to tell him that I was, because earlier that week I had felt that God wanted me to read that book specifically.  So, knowing now that the book of Job was an illustration of how the enemy was able to take away everything that Job had, but God was able to give him back double what he had lost, I started to get nervous.  This was twice in the same week, and the very night that I had purchased my Hyundai, that I felt God was making sure that I was familiar with what he had done for Job.

Sure enough, it was not long after that that the Hyundai started having mechanical problems.  As I discussed it with the mechanic, he pointed out how there had been some serious shortcuts taken in making a lot of repairs on that car.  So, I had him fix up the things that had to be fixed, and I left a lot of non-essential repairs go.  But every few weeks it would seem that I would hear yet another strange noise, or see another warning light turning on.  The car had quickly become a major stress point in my life.

Jumping ahead now about eight months, I got engaged to be married.  As we were praying about the wedding, we were relying on the verse from Psalms 37:3:

Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart.

One of my desires was to go to Hawaii for our honeymoon.  I didn’t have any money available to pay for it, but since this was going to be my one and only honeymoon, we booked the trip anyway.  So I was now earnestly praying for God to provide finances.

Now we move ahead one month, to January.  At that time, I lived in a high rise condo, and my Hyundai was parked in the parking garage.  I was in my bed sleeping.  It was about 2:00 in the morning when the telephone rang.  I awoke and answered the phone.  The call was from the parking garage.  The person was telling me how there had been a fire, and before they could do anything the fire had spread to my car, and it had been totally burned up.  He had to repeat this to me two or three times, because I had been in a sound sleep and I was trying to figure out if I was dreaming this or not.

I went down to the parking garage, and sure enough, my Hyundai was now toast.  Apparently the car parked next to mine had caught fire, and it had spread to mine.  Everything in or on the car was burned or melted.

So I went back to my condo, and tried to go back to sleep.  That didn’t work, because my mind was racing.  What do I make of this?  My Hyundai was a constant pain, but it did get me where I needed to go.  Was this another attempt of the enemy to rob from me before the wedding?  I was struggling to figure this out, when I felt compelled to go read my Bible.  I was following a daily Bible reading program, so I picked up my guide for what to read that day.  It was January 21 – I remember it because the guide told me to read Psalms 21.  As I read it, I just knew that God was talking directly to me.  I started reading:

The king shall joy in your strength, O LORD; and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!  You have given him his heart’s desire… (Psalms 21:1-2)

There was our verse for our wedding!  God was telling me that he was giving me my heart’s desire!  So, now I was totally interested in what this Psalm was saying, and I continued reading:

Your hand shall find out all your enemies: your right hand shall find out those that hate you.  You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of your anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. (Psalms 21:8-9)

So God had burned up my enemy, the Hyundai!  Why did he do this?

For they intended evil against you: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. (Psalms 21:11)

So now I had my answer.  A few days later, I got a call from the woman whose car had initially caught fire.  She apologized that the fire had destroyed my car, but she wanted to make sure that I knew that her insurance company said that she wasn’t responsible for my car, since they considered it to be an Act of God!  I laughed and agreed with her!  And after I spoke to my insurance company, they paid me enough money to cover the cost of the honeymoon!  So I thank God that he is a God who teaches us, who speaks to us, and who provides for us!