The day
It was a hot August in 2003 in Richland Washington. I just finished night shift and was listening to a sermon on the radio on the drive home. The speaker asked, "When was the last time you bought flowers for your wife"?
I thought it was a good question, so being the awesome husband that I am, I stopped and bought her a dozen roses.
That morning she went for a pregnancy checkup. The next thing I knew we were at the hospital for a delivery! A month early!
The previous month
In my prayer time during the previous month I had come to realize that I was failing at mustering up compassion. I heard about it, and I read about it, but I couldn't develop the 'feeling' of compassion. I realized that I just might be the least compassionate person alive.
I began to confess this to God and ask that He would "Give me compassion, because I can't seem to make it happen on my own".
I was about to learn a very valuable lesson.
When God wants to be glorified by giving you something, He first reveals your lack. When you see and confess your lack, He will call you to begin asking Him to supply your need.
If you never realized that you lacked, then you might assume you gained the new ability by your own strength.
Think about all the times throughout the old testament that God limited Israel's power so they could not possibly boast in what He was doing. Think about Gideon and the 300 men.
There is a story in 2 Chronicles 19 and 20 where God tells Judah and Jehoshaphat to go out and fight against three tribes at once, but God tells them to not even fight!
He says, "For the battle is not yours but God's". and "You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf".
Then God proceeds to have the armies of the three tribes destroy themselves.
When God wants to be sure that we recognize His work in our lives, He prepares us beforehand.
God asks
When God asks us to prepare, we should prepare.
When the Israelites were being led by Joshua, he told them to, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you".
Then He commanded the priests carrying the ark by saying, "When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan".
Then, of course, God split the Jordan and they went across on dry ground.
So, here's the deal. We see God doing the amazing and impossible, and yet we don't even think God can help us to stop sinning. Or help us to love someone?
We read the stories of Joshua, Gideon and others and proclaim, "Yes! I would have believed"!
But really? We can't even trust God for a cheeseburger. Who are we kidding?
We would have been in the back of the group of people saying, "God doesn't do miracles anymore. It was only with Moses that He did that".
Or
"This is going to be sooo embarrassing".
Or
"We're going to make it half way and get stuck and die"!
Or
"Maybe God doesn't want us in the promise land yet and we're not suppose to go through".
Or
"God hasn't 'called' me to go through the Jordan".
Or
Shall I keep going? Have I found your faithless fearful excuse yet? All of these crappy excuses are founded in fear and unbelief. Lies from our enemies the demons, and from our own selfish sinful natures.
Time to grow up and trust God
Did you notice that God told the priests to go stand in the water BEFORE He did anything? Do you remember that He told Noah to build a boat BEFORE he did anything? Do you remember that Noah and his family sat inside the ark for a week BEFORE any rain came!
Imagine the conversations. "Dad, if it doesn't rain soon I'm out of here".
"Honey, are you sure God didn't mean, 'One Act of Random Kindness. A.R.K.'"?
Just think about the consequences if nothing happened. The water didn't split, or the earth didn't flood. Oh, the embarrassment! Awkward!
But God...
As my prayers for compassion continued, God did not fail to provide.
August 14, 2003, Lily Faith Durocher was born. She was a month early and after hours of labor, we had an emergency c-section. It was a loooong delivery---it just wore me out! :) Maggie was a trooper though. Tough as nails.
So, after a MedStar flight to a hospital in Spokane, with my own company, I found myself with my first baby. She was hooked up to a ventilator, had tubes everywhere and had a huge bruised swollen head.
Talk about feeling helpless. I cried.
But as I cried, I realized I was crying for another human being. I actually had an overwhelming compassion for another living person.
Wow. So this is what this feels like !
I experienced this wonderful truth about one of the ways God answers prayer.
He showed me my lack, called me to confess and ask for it, then He delivered.
This is no formula, it's just a way that God develops faith in His children.
The Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, speaks to us.
Listening to the Holy Spirit
God doesn't show up and talk to us like a man. He's done that--but I wouldn't hold your breath.
God is spiritual and we must worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Spiritual communication happens spiritually, and just like verbal communication, we can sometimes not understand it or we can confuse it.
But don't despair.
God is not so weak that He cannot communicate with you--just listen.
When God calls you to something, shows you a weakness, something lacking or an area of fear in your life, you need to prepare yourself by putting your feet in the Jordan River. Step in and wait for God to do His work.
"Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you"
I don't know about you, but I think that for me to develop compassion was a "wonder". It was an amazing change.
Prepare and see the Lord work!
Song: Walk in it
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