Let them hear. {Part 1)

I told you I had suitcases to pack. Had to go see my babies. Well, my brother's babies. But you know what I mean.

 

Then we had to re-enact the story of the paralytic being lowered in through the roof...

Four years old and already addicted to Flappy Bird.

 

No joke. We walked out of our rooms, looked at each other, and were like, "Um, I'm wearing that."

And then we saw what the other women in the house were wearing. Yeah, we're cool like that.

 

Upon returning from my trip and turning down my road...

Upon returning my trip to find that we had a blizzard while I was gone...

 

Oh, yeah. And this is the rest of my road...

It's not like I just drove past a pile of snow and took a picture. No. It's like this is where the plow cut a tunnel through the snow where a road usually is....

  

Out the rear-view window...

Imagine what it looked like before they plowed...

Yesterday morning I was reading along in my little plan and found myself in Psalm 115. Not a passage I know by heart, it’s always a little thrilling to be struck by something as if it is my first time seeing it! A handful of verses really struck me in particular.

“But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see;  they have ears but they cannot hear, noses but cannot smell; they have hands but cannot feel, feet but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will become like them, and so will all who trust in them.” (verse 4-8)

I don’t know about you, but that part about being like them doesn’t entice me. Many things in this great big world seem to call my name, shiny and rugged alike, but to become like a lifeless idol? I think I’ll pass.

Interesting, though, is that this passage alludes to the fact that some people are, in fact, just like them.

As a human being, I am made in the image of a God who speaks ( see the Genesis account—“God said…God said…God said”), sees (Psalm 94:9), hears (Psalm 94:9), feels (Mark 5:30), walks (John 6:19), utters sounds (Romans 8:26).

Therefore I speak, see, hear, feel, walk, and utter sounds. Have you ever thought about that?

But order moves to chaos always. And—when I run to other gods, when I forsake “my first love” like I know I do, what am I doing? Like this Psalm, in essence, am I not making myself in their image? In the image of that god am I not creating myself? It’s just like the first creation, only in reverse.

People are created to worship and in turn, we become like what we worship.

In the end then, when I am not worshiping the One who made me, when I am saying “No, this neat little idol that I have created, that I have put where I can see it, that I have made so that I can control it—this  is what I want to worship,” what does that mean? It means that most assuredly I will start to resemble them. I will lose the properties of who I WAS CREATED TO BE; I will become like them.  We become what we worship.

My abilities to speak. See. Feel. Smell. Walk. Utter Sounds. Those will be gone.

Every time I run to them, to these idols I look to to fulfill a desire they were never meant to fulfill, I am losing capacities I was supposed to have. The ability wanes.

The only question to be asked then is, what kind of god are you becoming like?

 Do you find yourself unfeeling? Are there things you cannot hear? Truths from God’s word you are not seeing? Not wanting to see? Not wanting to hear?

Could it be—maybe—that you are losing your ability to speak truth, see the gravity of the world’s situation, feel compassion, smell the beauty that is still in this world—marred as it is, walk your talk, and utter sounds to the ears of God that come deep from the heart of you because—maybe—HE is not the God you are following? Have you created something in your image to worship because it’s easier? It always tells you what you want to hear? It never does anything you don’t approve of?

I know. This is messy business. It’s not adventure and plane tickets and sequins.

But…I had to ask.

Give your perfume away.

Let me tell you one of my good stories.

I was packing a suitcase this morning (no jibes, please) and was reminded of something that happened to me a few years ago on a morning much like this: packing a suitcase, rushing out the door, wondering if I will be able to get it all done.

So the story goes that I was a wedding planner at this time and was in the throes of my extensive traveling. For sure more than one suitcase a week being packed, and this morning was no different. I had to be somewhere that night, was running late for work that morning, had gotten back from a trip not 12 hours earlier, and was rushing around my apartment, to put it mildly.

If you don't know this about me yet, let me tell you: I love lipstick. Rain or shine, frantic or calm, I have lipstick on. Period.

That being said, as my hands are full of bags and briefcases and I am already ten minutes late in getting out the door, I pause a bit at my dressing table to---put my lipstick on. Because that's what I do.

Time ticking away still, there I stand, outlining my lips, getting it just right, when I hear the Lord say "Put that new perfume on...."

"But I am already late..." I said.

"Put that new perfume on," he said again.

Spritz. Spritz.

And off I went, as P.G. Wodehouse would say, "Down the stairs like a mighty, rushing wind." : )

But let me back up a bit.

The reason I was late to begin with was because there were men in my apartment putting new windows in. And obviously I had to make them coffee. I mean, it's the only thing a self-respecting wedding planner did at that time.

That being said, I also had moved my car to the street before they got there, giving them room in my driveway.

So the morning was not normal.

In an oblivious blaze, no doubt, there I trudged, past my driveway, across the street, pausing to try to unlock my car without strewing my belongings all over the road for the whole world to see when, not previously seen, a woman on a walk passes not 10 feet away from me, pauses, and says, "Wow! What perfume are you wearing?! You smell lovely...."

I am not kidding.

Blah blah blah, I tell her what it is and she proceeds in her exercising.

Depositing my baggage in the back seat of my car, I hear this small voice inside of me.

"Give her your perfume," I hear the Lord say.

"But I am late! We have already discussed this!!! And I love that perfume! I don't want to give it away!" I retort in a defiant mood.

"Give her your perfume," he says again.

Sigh.

High heels and all, I run back across the street, through my driveway, up the stairs to my apartment, back into the room with all the window-guys, snatch my perfume, blaze back out of the room, down the steps again, across the driveway, through the street, into my car----now only to have to zip up and down the streets to find this walker woman.

She was a fast walker. 8 blocks away, there I spotted her. 

"Ma'am! Ma'am!" I yelled as I rolled down my window and held out said bottle of perfume.

"Here," I said, "You take it."

"Are you serious?!" she looked at me with a quizzical brow.

I mean, let's be honest, I can guarantee you this has never happened to her before, nor will it ever happen to her again.

"Yes! I am serious! I want you to have it!" I said, kind of lying, but knowing he had told me to do.

"Oh my gosh! Who are you?! Are you new to town! I don't know you!"

Truth was, I was new to town, and I didn't know anyone. The town was primarily Catholic, and since I am not Catholic, I didn't attend church with them (which, really---that's how I meet people) and had therefore made zero connections.

Needless to say, we exchanged contact information and she says, "I will be out east this week, but will call you when I get back and we should get coffee!"

Whoa.

Did this really just happen?

I drove away thinking, "I wonder if she is a Believer---she seems really nice."

At work that afternoon someone was there from that town and I said to them, "Hey do you know SO-and-SO?"

The person stopped and goes, "Oh my. Yes. I know her. She has quite the story. And she has gone and gotten all religious, too. You two would probably get along."

Ha.

Ok, Lord, what is all of this about?

Two weeks go by and one day, she calls.

"I would love to meet up with you! I feel as if I need to know you!" she says to me.

Hmmmm... very interesting.

Meet each other we did.

Oh my goodness, Wolfies. 

A lovely woman, a woman who within 5 minutes of being with her my spirit KNEW that she knew the Lord. Maybe you could say the Spirit in each of us recognized itself...

And my co-worker was right, she did have a story.

Grew up in a non-believing home, she married a man, had babies with him, moved all over the country with him when, one day, out of the blue, he says, "I don't love you anymore. And I am in love with someone else."

And proceeded to walk out of her life.

If that's not terrible enough, things went downhill from there, and got really ugly.

Because after a while he realized that maybe he DID love her, maybe he DID want to keep their family together.

But, here is the problem: sometimes the "other woman" doesn't want you to go back to your family.

They have become possessive. They think they own you now.

And, if you don't agree with them---sometimes they get violent with you.

And sometimes restraining orders don't work.

And sometimes if they can't get to you (the one they had the affair with), then they will get to your family.

Sigh.

I don't want to tell you what happened.

I can't force myself to type it.

It was gruesome. It was disturbing. It was heinous.

I will only tell you this: one of their daughters didn't make it.

Sigh.

Sin is REALLY ugly, did you know that? And don't you ever think that your sin effects only YOU. Because it doesn't. In this case, the husband's sin affected him, his wife, the "other woman," his children, and most certainly--- the daughter whose live was taken from her.

Sigh.

As she was telling me this in the coffee shop that day, I think I just started weeping. No mother, no human being, should EVER have that kind of heart-ache happen to her.

In going against my theology, I would have understood if she was angry at God; and almost wouldn't have faulted her for it. She, of all people, had a good enough reason to. Yet. Yet, she looked at me and said, "But that's when Jesus met me; when I needed him most. He didn't make that person kill my daughter, so how could I blame him for that?"

Whoa.

A new Christian she was and she ALREADY had that kind of handle on how God works in this world.

I was blown away.

And then...as if that wasn't enough, she says to me, "You know, I was praying I would meet a Believer in this town. You are the answer to my prayer."

Whoa.

Whoa whoa whoa.

WHAT???

I don't think I could talk for the rest of the day.

I was the answer to HER prayer?!?! A woman who has known tragedy more than I hope any of you ever will. A woman who has known the comfort of Christ so deeply because the wounds were so piercing. A woman who has lived through all manner of the worst of humanity.

And I was the answer to her prayer?

Me. The girl who has to have lipstick on? The wedding planner who worries about being at the office 20 minutes late? The woman who disagreed with God about how my morning should have been?

I was an answer to HER prayer?

I knew then that I was not worthy.

What I can't get over is that, not only was I a blessing to her from the Lord, NOTHING ABOUT THIS SITUATION MAKES SENSE!!! As in, IT SHOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED. I shouldn't have met her!

Let's just walk through all of the things that I thought were out of place that morning, which, if they hadn't been "out of place" then none of this would have happened.

1. I was running late. I don't run late. But I was late. Why?

2. Because my landlord had ordered new windows.

3. I made the service guys coffee. I didn't have to do that.

4. I had to move my car out of the driveway (THE ONLY TIME I EVER DIDN'T PARK IN THE DRIVEWAY) .

5. I put my car on the OTHER side of the street. Not right in front of my building.

6. I put my lipstick on. Because it's habit.

7. I put perfume on. Because God told me to.

8. I walked across the street and had to PAUSE to get my keys, because my arms were full.

9. Walker Woman walked by me at that EXACT SAME MOMENT. On THAT SIDE OF THE STREET. Close enough to SMELL ME. What if she had been 10 steps ahead of herself, out of "smelling range"?

10. She stopped and said something. What if she hadn't stopped and had just thought it?!?!

11. God told me to give her the perfume.

12. I fought him.

13. He told me again.

14. I relented of my ideas of how they day should progress, I gave up being "On Time."

15. I successfully tracked her down.

And bam. That was it.

If any of you think this is somehow less than miraculous, that I somehow made this happen so I could be a "good person".... go read 1-15 again.

Are you getting the picture?

This is beyond coincidence. This is beyond reason. This is beyond random.

Wolfies, this is beyond POSSIBLE.

Like I have said before, I couldn't have manipulated, finagled, coerced, or forced this situation to happen if I tried with everything I have--and I can manipulate, finagle, coerce, or force my way into almost any situation.

No. This was RIDICULOUSLY the hand of God and that is just all there is to it.

So. What in the world does this have to do with you?

Ha.

Well, for starters, what is God telling you to do?

And why are you not doing it?

Are you letting your thoughts of how you think life and events and your circumstances should go get in the way of what you know you should be doing? Have you ever thought that maybe you might be the answer to the prayers of a woman who lost her husband, had a murdered daughter, and was feeling lonely in a town full of people who don't believe the same things she did?

Have you ever thought that maybe God wants to blow your mind?

Build your faith so much by coming through, and showing you that he cares about EVERY detail of your life? And not only yours, but everyone else too?

Babes. When God tells you to do something, he has a reason for it. It might be for you. It might be for someone else. It might be for both of you. Or it might just be for Him.

Either of those categories are good, because they are his plan.

His plan knocked the wind out of me that day. I was humbled. I was caught off guard. I learned my first lesson in not fighting him. I learned he knows better than I do.

And I want you to know those things. I want him to take your breath away.

Whatever the situation you find yourself in, if he is telling you to give your perfume away, give your perfume away.

Oh my gosh, Wolfies--give your perfume away! I promise you he knows what he is doing.

Pray Differently.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that the fact that Israel needed a king was something kind of---miraculous?
Yeah, it hadn't occurred to me either.
 ; )

But think about it. For a while there we were wondering where in the world the son was? "WHERE WASTHE PROMISED SON?!" we yelled and raised our hands in the air in impatient angst! "There is no son! You said there would be a son!!"

We waited we waited we waited.
Still no son.

But then all of the sudden, there was a son.

And then there were more sons. And sons and daughters and daughters and grandsons and great-great-grandbabies.

God had done what he said he would do.

Sometimes that's where I think it ends: at the point that God fulfills his promise. As in, once the fulfillment comes then that situation is no more.

But then last night I was reading in I Kings. David has just passed away, Solomon has been placed on the throne. And one night God appears to Solomon in a dream and says to him, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you." (I Kings 3:5)
Solomon doesn't do what I fear I might do. He didn't pull out his laundry list of all he needed the Lord to do for him.
No.
And I am sure the list was long.
He was king of Israel, for crying out loud! What kind of king doesn't have a long list? Ok, who am I kidding, what kind of human doesn't have a long list?

But no.  He didn't give a slew of requests.
He answers the Lord with, "Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?" (verses 7-9)

So there Solomon was. In charge. Wanting not money, power, possessions, comfort, etc. He wanted wisdom to govern.

But wait. What was he in charge of in the first place? What did he need all that wisdom for?

He was in charge of God's promises fulfilled. He was in charge of the tangible showings of God's faithfulness.

Whoa. Isn't that nuts?

As in, contrary to what I think I thought for so long, there are after-effects to fulfilled promises. Like, God promised there would be people to fill the nation. And he gave people. Solomon was in charge of those people.
But then, here's the catch---people need governing.

There is work to be done as you dwell in the faithfulness; in the fulfilled promise.

I think about those people I know who felt that God has promised them a child. And for years it was nothing nothing nothing. But then, one day, there is a child.
Praise the Lord!
Ah...but then the reality sets in: Now you have to be a parent. And you have to be faithful to parent and train and teach that child.
It didn't just end with the fulfillment of the baby coming. Now there is work to do as you dwell in the faithfulness.

Or what about when you pray for God to provide you with work, a house, a ministry, a circle of influence, a relationship? Did it occur to you (because it didn't really for me) that then you will have to work, tend the house, spend a lot of time ministering, really watch how you live now as people watch you, and put probably more work than anticipated into that relationship?

So here is the thought: God's faithfulness usually demands a faithfulness from us in return. Because it's not just once and done.

Solomon knew this and that's what he asked for: the ability to be faithful to what God's faithfulness had given.

"Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked..." (verse 11-12a)

Whoa. Not only was God initially faithful (i.e. we finally saw the son!), God proved himself generous beyond measure.
Why?
Because Solomon had the right heart.

Sometimes I don't think I have the right heart.
Because, if I think about it, I probably don't ask for wisdom, for discernment, for faithfulness to God's numerous faithfulnesses.
Instead, I find myself praying for those end results.
I pray for him to provide, to bring work, to clear up relationship issues or to bring relationships, to heal, to exact justice.
And no, these things aren't wrong to pray for. Not at all. I could tell you countless scriptures plotting out how to pray about these things; telling you in fact to pray for these things.

But. But...
Do I ever pray for the tools to use in a situation, rather than just the desired outcome?
Because what happens when I get the desired outcome? And find that I still have work to do?
Won't I wish I had prayed not only for the promise to be fulfilled, but for the tools to be faithful to the situation when God finally does indeed fulfill the promise?
Because I don't want to drop the ball then. Especially not as I dwell in tangible showings of God's faithfulness. 

Anyway. It has me thinking. Rather than praying for end results, praying that I can be faithful to the areas of my life he has already been faithful.
Think about it, Wolfies. Do we need to start praying differently?