It was the first morning that I was set loose to explore a strange hotel in a strange city; coming out the door of our hotel room I almost bumped right into a maid. Immediately she began furiously and fearfully apologizing for being in the way (her speech was foreign and her English a little difficult to understand); I stopped her, calmed her obvious fear, and accepted her apology. Her sigh of relief could have echoed down the hallway and with that sound of her sigh, I was urged by the Spirit to bless her, I said -"You have no need to fear, The servant is the Greatest. You have a position in this hotel that, out of all of the other positions, Jesus would be honored to do yours; so do it with joy and worship the King in all that you do!".
I smiled and turned to walk away, but she was quickened by what I had said and, she called out "You are a Christian? Oh to hear the words of Christ coming from one not afraid to be as a Christian. This world, this town ... has Christians but they are so sad, so dark and so quiet... You are an unafraid Christian?" Tears began to flow from her eyes and a cry came from her heart because (unknown to me) she had been praying for her son who had to be left behind in Egypt.
"You, as a Christian, may I ask you to pray for my son whom we were forced to leave behind in Egypt, for he did not want to come?" I let her know that I would carry her and him with me as I moved forward through my days.
I turned once again to go go but she held onto my arms with tears in her eyes ..."but I am Coptic Orthodox" (like that would kill the deal) so I replied, "Let's strip away the religious barriers that could divide us, and stand as brother and sister before the cross of Jesus and cry out together for the needs that are closest to your heart... Because that is where Jesus is...closest to our hearts." In tears she said "Thanks be to God!"
"When I Cry unto Thee - Be not silent - for you are my cliff." Psalm 28:1 If God's silence has been intensively devised, meticulously cut, skillfully carved or plowed by design against me, there is no hope. I will be like those lowered into the Pit, an eternal dungeon of despair. If my God is silent like an idol I am done for....He is my cliff; and when I am on the edge I must find Him "alive" for me.
God's voice through His scripture has been intensively devised, meticulously cut, skillfully carved and plowed by design for the life that is the fullest for the believer and lover of its sound. God loves to love us in and through the seemingly most desperate situations of our lives. He arrives where no hope is and springs into a loving response that creates a refreshingly new Hope where otherwise none would grow. O the beauty of the tender plant that shoots up and grows out of dry barren ground.
The flip side: The futile and pitiful nature of one that worships an idol is that the worshipper has carved out his own hopelessness and devastatingly lost future. The demonic connection with idols seems to be lodged in misting a mirage that mirrors this "hope" attribute of God - "when His children cry He is not silent". When the idol is finally called upon for hope, there is deadly silence, during that silence the idol worshipper has two choices:
1. Turn away from God, turn to the silent idol - Pretend and die.
Or
2. Turn away from the idol, turn to the voice of God - Hear and live.
His written Word is key..."He is not silent"...He will change you.
Exodus 3:7-10 - He always hears the cry of His people... Both sides of the Cross. There is continual connection as His Word pours in and through our lives. It is not just a matter of our understanding, it is the larger matter of our trust.
1 Peter 1:23 - Eternity's birth begins with the Word, growth continues with His Word.
Hebrews 4:12 - The Word is living and active. It reaches into the complexity of who we are and divides with discernment who we are becoming in Him.
I didn't see "Marrall (Maryl)" the next two mornings early, but God put her in the Hallway at the time we were getting ready to leave the hotel - She caught my wife, Yolanda, first ... to tell me she was looking for me, and then she found me.
She wanted to make sure that I had heard her correctly. Somehow she felt that she could not pray for what she truly wanted because it was being presumptuous of God. God at that moment let me see how we are all like "Marrall" -- afraid to ask for exactly what we want for fear that God will not answer if we presume on His goodness.
I broke inside because both her and I needed to connect with His love for us - "O Mary, He knows what we truly want, let's not be ashamed or afraid to ask Him for what we truly want! HE LOVES US!"
Oh people of God - Ask anything in His Name!!! God is more interested in the cry of our hearts than in the phrasing of our verbs. He doesn't play games with "bruised reeds" and "smoking flax". --- He is closest ... to where we are the most broken; just break down, worship Him and trust His tender care for us. He will be there.
HLFA,
Jeff
Pray for Marrall and her estranged son, Fredy - O that God would capture them both in His Extravagant Love.