Recalculating.

Last Thursday in Momentum (our young adult ministry) Pastor Jonathan brought an amazing word to us. We are in our series “The Voice” in studying God’s voice and how we communicate with him and how he communicates with us. Jonathan talked about Ezekiel 12:2 “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people. (Ezekiel 12:2 NIV) Are we a rebellious people?? We have eyes and ears…are we using them correctly? It doesn’t have to do with a lack of instruction, but a lack of attention to it!! Sometimes it’s the little things that we don’t want to surrender. Our time. Our agenda. Our plan. He hit the nail on the head when he spoke about the times we hear God’s voice but “We tend to use our knowledge and our logic to talk our way out of listening to his prodding.” How many times have I heard the Lord nudging me in a direction but didn’t listen?? Convincing myself that I don’t really need to talk with that person, or stop an already busy day to help somebody out, to show them Jesus. Our logic is so powerful in our disobedience to his voice.

Yesterday evening I had a dinner appointment with a lovely student who lives out in Knightsville. I had already rescheduled our lunch appointment 2 times because of Jack’s stomach virus. So Jason came home and I set out, GPS set to drive 35 minutes out. It was 5pm. Anyone who has driven anywhere around Hwy 52 at this time of day knows it’s quite crazy. I came to an intersection and my GPS was telling me to turn left. Then closer to the intersection I noticed all the traffic diverting to the left around a stalled vehicle. Inside was a very tired, hot from the 97 degree heat, frustrated woman. I started to follow the traffic, after all, that was the way my plan had set me to go. I suddenly remembered this momentum message. This was an opportunity. I wanted to obey. Sitting a bit behind her at the now red light, my logic started in…”I know nothing about cars, that thing is smoking!” “What if it blows up?!” “I don’t know that I have ever pushed a vehicle off the road before, don’t know if I could.” I even thought, “someone else will help her.” Fact was no one was helping her. At the moment the light turned green she looked at me. That was it. I pulled off in front of her a ways and got out of my car. Thinking, “what do I say?” In getting to the car I found her more frantic. She was trying to start this smoking car that had stained the pavement with whatever water it had had in it. A Sunny D carton was in the back. I asked her how I could help. She said this happens all the time-she just needed water (anyone remember a woman who came to draw water at noon?) I offered to take her to get water for the car, or home if she needed. She grabbed the used carton from the backseat and said this has happened before. I managed to get a nice man to help us push her car out of traffic and he popped her hood telling me what was wrong with it while she ran to a nearby store to get the jug filled. He left as I waited. I went over to the store and she was coming out. She had still not reached anyone she knew to help. She was very grateful for the help but said she was fine. She assured me the car would start and thanked me for helping. So with the thought that I had already freaked her out, I had no choice but to go further. I asked her, “this may sound crazy, but can I pray with you about anything?” She came closer to me, smiling. I thought, “This is it!! God is going to bring it!!”. Then she said, “Thanks, but I don’t believe in that. I was a Jehovah’s witness for 6 years and that ruined me”. In that time of defeat, God told me, “Tell her I love her”. I told her that I believed in an amazing God and that I knew that he loved her. She grabbed my hand, shook it thanking me and left.

As I drove away, with my GPS guiding me, I felt joy. Sure, I hadn’t had a revival bring someone to their knees to Jesus moment, but I listened to his voice. And I think that the more I do, the more God will be able to do through my actions. These actions may not be received as we want people to, but we obeyed. In God’s plan that may be all he wants from me. That woman’s path will hopefully involve another believer to sow the seed. I pray they hear and obey.
Romans 2:13 tells us: For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (NIV)