Ever have one of those sermons that you swear was written just for you? The sermon that was preached at chapel today certainly spoke to my heart and my current situation.
God knew EXACTLY what he was doing. You see, I am not a regular Chapel attendee anymore. Now, I go to Metropolitan, which is down the street from my dorm since I prefer early morning church versus midday church. I only go to chapel for selected occasions, announcements and to hear certain speakers that I like.
Well today I had on my calendar to go to Chapel and hear Father Phleger from Chicago speak. When I arrived at Chapel, I didn’t see Father Phleger on the stage. There was a man I didn’t recognize. This man was Reverend Jeremiah Wright also from Chicago, IL.
He started his sermon with a story that his father often told the members of his congregation. It is an account of a minister from the Deep South during the time of no indoor plumbing, wood stoves, outhouses, no street lights, dirt roads and sharecropping. After telling a few tangential stories of the presence of things we can’t see, we got back to the minister.
You see, the minister got a call late in the night about a member who was having a difficult pregnancy. The caller said that she was near death, lost her baby and was requesting the pastor’s company. Hearing this, the pastor got up, saddled his horse in the barn and road a few miles down the dark, secluded, county road to the woman’s house. When he arrived, there was a celebration going on. The woman was fine, the baby was born with no trouble. The pastor stayed and praised the Lord with everyone. But on his way home, he wondered who called him and why they lied him. Perplexed and unable to come up with the answer, the pastor rejoiced in a miracle of the Lord. No one could have seen the woman making it through her pregnancy nor the baby being born healthy. With the idea of not being able to see, we were lead to the scripture of the day:
2 Kings 6:8-17 (New International Version)
8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, "I will set up my camp in such and such a place."
9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: "Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there." 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, "Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?"
12 "None of us, my lord the king," said one of his officers, "but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom."
13 "Go, find out where he is," the king ordered, "so I can send men and capture him." The report came back: "He is in Dothan." 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.
15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked.
16 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
17 And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
The pastor made references of this situation to what is going on with Iraq. Why would Bush, who was waging war against the multi-personed Al-Queda in Afghanistan, send multiple troops to Iraq to go after one man who offended his father? Not wanting to get off subject, we got back to the meat of the text.
The King sent a whole army to one man not the country. The King was at war with Israel. But since Elisha had embarrassed the King, the King wanted to take him out. The King wanted revenge. Why wasn’t Elisha afraid as the storm was brewing? Elisha was in communion with God therefore was comfortable during the storm. Why wasn’t Elisha afraid when the attendant gave the news about the troops coming? “While the attendant was tripping, Elisha was trusting.” You see, Elisha saw what others had not. He prayed to God to show the attendant what he saw. We must remember that the strength was omnipotent not physical.
Things are not always what they seem. What is bad right now, is paving the way for something great later. You don’t know if you have to wait one more minute, hour, day or year. Hold on. The blessing is coming. Do not despair in bleak outcomes. We must pray to God to open our eyes, minds and hearts to see His goodness, perform His will and utilize His assistance. There is a lot going on that we cannot see.
During our journeys we must remember that:
1.) We are not alone
*We stand on the shoulders of our faith, the faith of others. ancestors among others.
2.) God is at work on your behalf
**While we are asleep the enemy is at work plotting, planning and scheming on how to ruin our lives. Thankfully, we serve a God that never sleeps nor slumber and is has a plan to keep you safe from hurt, harm and danger.
3.) We have nothing to be afraid of
***If God is for us, who can be against us?
So we got back to the story. Many years after the telephone incident, the minister’s most loyal deacon was dying. As the minister was sitting at his Deacon’s bedside, the deacon confessed his gratitude towards the pastor for allowing God to use him to save his life. Perplexed but still listening, the deacon also apologized for making that deceitful phone call those numerous years ago. He explained that before he joined the church and became active in it, he was jealous of the pastor. In fact, the deacon hated the pastor before he even got to know him.
The deacon wasn’t always a church going man. However, he married a church going woman. She would come home so inspired by the pastor’s message and it angered the deacon that another man could get that response out of his wife. Nothing romantic or sexual was going on between the pastor and the wife. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and exhibited the joy of intimately knowing the Lord. The deacon didn’t believe and decided to take him out.
The original plan was to kill the pastor as he was riding to the woman’s house. However, there was deterrence. The deacon saw two men riding with the pastor all the way to the woman’s house, they stayed outside to keep watch while the pastor visited inside and they rode with him back to his home. The deacon tried to remain hidden, but he was sure that he was spotted because the two aids looked him dead in the eye. He eventually gave up and went home since these men were so diligent on their posts.
The deacon thanked the pastor for having the sense enough to have two men with him because they kept the deacon from messing with the pastor and ultimately messing up his life. He admired that the two men stayed with the pastor. The deacon felt that any man who could command that respect from two other men in that particular situation was a man of God and needn’t be messed with. That next Sunday, the deacon went to church, not to observe his wife’s reaction to what the preacher was saying BUT to actually listen to what the pastor was saying.
The deacon committed his life to God that day-the night when he made that phone call and seeing those two men changed (and saved) his life and soul. Just before taking his last breath, the deacon expressed his gratitude to the pastor once more, commended the pastor on his personal walk with the Lord and how that walk made the deacon a better man. The man fell limp after that declaration.
Now the pastor held the man’s lifeless hands and though to himself “But I didn’t take, two fellas with me that night.” He didn’t take them but God sent them. Two angels were given charge of the pastor that night. Rev. Wright called them Goodness and Mercy. They followed him all the way there and all the way back. They kept him safe from hurt harm and danger.
The pastor didn’t see it, but he was not alone. God will do the same for you. You don’t know what danger you could have been in but God protected you. Even in the midst of your battles, you are still protected and far from alone.
The pastor ended with a song:
“He restores my failing health and
Helps me to do what honors him the most
That is why I am safe
Why I am safe
Why I am safe
Safe in His arms
Because the Lord is my shepherd
I have everything I need
He makes me lie down in the meadows green
And he leads me beside the golden stream
He restores my failing health and
Helps me to do what honors him the most
That is why I am safe
Why I am safe
Why I am safe
Safe in His arms
I’m glad (glad)
He shall hide me
I’m glad (glad)
He shall hide me
Safe in His arms
I’m glad (glad)
He shall hide me
I’m glad (glad)
He shall hide me
Safe in His arms
Safe in His arms
Safe in His arms
Safe in His arms”
I (YOU) ARE NOT ALONE DESPITE THE STORMS OF LIFE.
(Oh what a comfort it is for my heart to believe what my brain has known for so long.)
GREAT SERMON!
Amen.
