05/22/2020
When bad things happen in your life are you quick to become despondent, or perhaps angry? Do you immediately assign blame, and lash out at what you consider to be the cause? How about when something good occurs? When something wonderful happens to you do you jump forward and shout out “Look at what I have done!” Thus claiming the glory for it? Well friends, in all things, the good and bad, we should always look for the hand of God. We should ask ourselves... Where is God‘s voice in this, and what is His will?
“I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.”
Psalm 39:9 ESV
It isn’t enough to just grow quiet when we are confronted with discipline, or trouble, and it isn’t good to remain mute when some great blessing is poured out on us. In all circumstances we need to turn towards God, and realize His providence. The Lord has a purpose for everything in our lives, and if we don’t look for Him in everything then our anger grows, and our self-absorption continues to strengthen.
“I was mute and silent; I held my peace to no avail, and my distress grew worse.”
Psalm 39:2 ESV
In the COVID-19 pandemic we are currently experiencing it is easy to concentrate on China and blame them for its release, or to look at our Governments and healthcare leaders and blame them for its spread, but in doing this our distress only grows, and our faith weakens. When we do this we are looking to man, or false gods for our salvation, and ignoring Jehovah’s Mighty hand.
“But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV
Perhaps we became sick, and God healed us. Maybe a loved one was taken from us, and God’s peace comforted us in our mourning. Then again we might have lost our job and livelihood, and the Lord provided for us. Whatever the circumstance, God’s hand is always at work in our lives, but are we looking for it? Do we look for His correction, benevolence, goodness, power, provision, or gentle and loving hand, when we are being scourged, or nailed to our cross?
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.””
Psalm 50:14-15 ESV
Sometimes the lessons are grand, and we hear God’s roaring voice as it boldly proclaims such things as “RETURN TO ME!”, but as often as not it is His small still voice that we hear when we look for Him. During this time of plague, God used my own hair to speak to me... not once, but twice. When Coronavirus first spread like fire around the world, my country shut down and everyone was told to stay at home in an attempt to stem its flow. As a result there came a great outpouring of kindness as people cared for one another. Some did this as a result of their faith, and others simply as a moral act, or stemming from their desire to appear magnanimous.
In my life this occurred many times, but it also meant that something seemingly minor in life occurred... the barbershops closed their doors. This is a small inconvenience but after several weeks I really started to look shaggy, and my daughter came to my house, where she cut my hair. In her care I experienced the love of a daughter, and saw her faith; I also saw one of God’s commandments in action...
““Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
Exodus 20:12 ESV
Although I benefited by having my hair cut, the greatest blessing was hers... obedience to God’s Word, feeling His presence and love, and eventually finding that her days may be long in the land that the Lord will give her. That was a very special evening, a time when we found God pouring forth from a simple set of clippers. I am certain others had family cut their hair, but did they look for God, and Jesus, in that act... that moment of receiving?
“Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,”
John 12:37 ESV
As the pandemic is subsiding, and governments are easing the restrictions on their citizens, a second whisper came to me from my hair. As counties, and cities opened their economies at differing rates, barbershops opened their doors in like manner. So one day I was driving with my wife and saw a tiny barbershop that I had never seen before. I returned later that week and made an appointment with the barber to get my hair cut. I had felt drawn to this place, and when I met the barber, and heard his voice, I knew that I was meant to be there. So, yesterday, a week later I came in for my haircut, and sat outside In the parking lot as he finished up the young boy who had the appointment before mine. I watched this man interact with the boy, and saw the kindness in him. I realized that although I had never seen his face, he exuded goodness.
When he finished the boy’s haircut, his mother, who had been sitting in the car beside me, went inside, paid the man, and came out. The sign on the door said that only one customer at a time could be in the shop, so I watched the man clean his tools, and prepare for me, and then I went inside. He was still wearing his protective mask and though I still hadn’t seen his face He greeted me as “Mr. Rich”, and directed me to the chair. As he cut my hair we talked, and I noticed a cross hanging on the wall, and smiled. I thought to myself... “OK Lord, what do you have in store for me?”
Almost immediately “Donnie” today me that he was a Christian, and then paused. I told him I was too, and asked him where he went to church. He told me he attended a smaller church nearby that was affiliated with a mega church in the nearby city. I smiled bigger, and told him that my wife worked for another of their satellite churches. The Lord was preparing me for the reason that he had brought me there, and I knew what was happening because this was a well-traveled path in my life. Goose bumps raised up on me as he told me that this barbershop was his ministry, and described the Greek word he had framed on the wall in front of the chair. He went on to tell me that it was the last word Jesus had spoken on the cross “Telelestai” or in English... finished. He also told me that on the back we’re the signatures of his pastor, and all the men who had come to this barbershop to pray over it when he first opened its doors nine years ago. I was receiving a lesson from this servant of the Lord; even as he served me by cutting my hair. All the time he called me “Mr. Rich”, in a most unassuming way.
Our conversation continued on and blessed me immensely. I told him that I too was a man who served God, and reached out with the gospel message to others. I was now one of his permanent customers. You see, God’s voice might be spoken softly, but if we listen for it we will always Hear him, and though we can’t see his face we can still recognize Him. I am yet to see Donnie’s face, but I recognized his voice to be familiar... it was a servant’s voice that I had heard so often, and so many times, before.
As the COVID-19 Pandemic continues its course God speaks to those who will listen. He spoke to me through my daughter’s love, Donnie’s encouragement, a good friend who stood one night in a hospital parking lot as his wife was treated in the Emergency Room for a possible heart attack... not allowed to be with her except in prayer, and my brother, over 700 miles away, as he contracted the virus himself, and I prayed for him In Tennessee. You see, none of these things are unusual, and each event in our life, down to our last breath, and the word “Telelestai”, contains God’s presence. So are we simply reacting to our lives, or looking for the Lord in every blink of our eyes?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your presence in every breath I take, and for letting me hear your voice even though your face remains hidden behind the mask of your glory. Thank you Holy Father for your Son Jesus Christ who has taught us to be humble, and to seek you in all the moments of life. Thank you Lord for surrounding us with your children, and for the kindness in every greeting we receive from them. I personally thank you for my barber, your good servant, who witnesses to me of faith, and humbles himself before you as he calls me “Mr. Rich”, and speaks the final words of your Son on the cross. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who speaks through the good and bad in our lives to reveal yourself. We praise you Father for your reassuring presence, and for every lesson you teach us. You are our strong tower, and our small still voice. You are our conviction, redemption; our Alpha and Omega. Hear our prayers Lord, and see our faces as we strain to hear your voice in all the happenings of our lives... knowing that you always speak to us... now and forevermore.
“Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””
John 10:25-30 ESV
Rich Forbes