Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
As many who follow may know, I have had the privilege to know the Lord for over 40 years. During those decades, He has proved Himself to be a faithful, kind and loving Savior. And as I have learned to lean on Jesus, He has shown Himself to be a merciful Savior, never wavering, even in some very dark times.
This topical series will try to provide a snapshot of an ol’ fools prayers, the weakness and selfishness of his prayers, and the ever increasing goodness of God in His responses the those prayers.
I hope my witness to the goodness and faithfulness of God will be an encouragement to those reading, and will spur us all on to a deeper, more consistent time of being in the Lord’s presence.
Please visit with me as I tell the story of a faithful God and His care for an ol’ fool. Though David considered himself a poor man, I freely admit, I am just an “ol’ fool” looking to the Lord.
Potatoes
My wife and I had just started to establish our home, having been married less than a year when we met a lady by the name of Anne. She was such a sweet lady, and seemed to have such a heart for the Lord. We naturally gravitated to her.
There was a small concern though. She seemed to have been radicalized by a errant thought going around in Christianity about evangelizing the lost.
Yes yes yes, I know. It is common doctrine, an acceptable mental position for the believer to agree to, but she was way out there – way out there in left field.
You see, she was in missions training to reach the untouched, to share the good news with those who had never heard, groups of people who lived a tribal life, hunters and gatherers, even to the extreme of cannibals.
Unheard of. But she was such a servant, and my wife and I listened. Eventually we went to a conference her mission board was putting on. That is where I heard of the importance of good decision making by a man preaching of Daniels choice of food consumption.
I was convinced! My wife – not so much.
So I entered into convincing mode. I made all the arguments, all the pleas, all the demands and every effort to convince her. I realize now my error, but I thought I could “wrestle” her to submission by my efforts, my authority, my desires.
Thankfully her hesitation in joining me in my excitement was to teach me the importance of waiting on God, the power of prayer and the priority of unity in Christian ministry. Her concerns were real, honest and to be considered (if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with my own desires). Eventually it became obvious my efforts to convince her were becoming a point of division between us.
What to do? What ever shall a believer do when an unyielding force meets an immovable rock?
The thought came to me in a flash.
Shut up. Quit trying to convince my wife and leave it with the Lord. My thought was that if God was calling us to this mission, He was able to talk to her about it. I would shut up, – a key element in this effort, for my constant nagging had only worsened the situation – and I would pray each night for 30 days. I would pray that God would open up her mind and heart to leave our family and country, enter a nation where we could not support ourselves, study for two years in a school, and then prepare for the next stage of entering mission work.
Oh – and by the way, we were expecting our first child!
Thirty days of pleading before the Lord. Thirty days of being content before my wife, without mentioning the topic – not even once. Thirty days of uncertainty in my mind as to the outcome, for I had been convinced that the Lord would provide an answer. Therefore I would understand the Lord’s voice in any direction that came out of this effort.
Thirty days passed. I was anxious in my heart – I will not lie. I came home from my day at work to see my wife peeling potatoes for supper. I sat at our little two chair dinner table, looked up at her and asked “Have you thought about missions?”
She looked over to me, peeling a potato, and said “Let’s do it.” She confessed she still had fears and concerns, and they were very valid. We talked. We laughed and we started the application process. We prepared for an adventure that would change our lives forever.
Four weeks after giving birth to our first child, we were on the road to a foreign nation, to a school we had never visited, to a group of people we never knew, and to a situation that promised many many challenges.
There will be other posts of how the Lord provided for this small family, how he taught us difficult lessons – mostly to a hard necked husband that needed the training – and of how He showed Himself as a merciful and kind God, a Savior that knows our weaknesses and yet guides us in His way.
If you are in the midst of a struggle with a friend, a loved one, a son or daughter, even a spouse, where you may be seeking to guide that one into a spiritual decision, take counsel from an old fool.
Human arguments and logic often hardens hearts. Prayer changes hearts. For those who are prayed for, and for those who pray.
May God be looked to for His leading in our lives, even if it isn’t what we think best.
Thanks for joining and Considering The Bible with me. Your thoughts are always welcome, and I look forward to hearing of the faithfulness of God in your lives.
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