Moses and Aaron were among His priests. Samuel also was among those who called upon His name. They called to the Lord and He answered them. They kept His testimonies and the statute that He gave them. (Verses 6-7)
We sat randomly spread out on couches for the Thursday night Bible study. Among the group was a new woman I'd never met. She was tatted up and had bleached blond hair. As Beth Moore began her message on the video screen, the woman was attentive but seemed agitated. Ready for something more in the moment to happen. It was when we began to pray that the reason for her coming that evening was made clear. A specific request she wanted us to take to God. She wanted a baby. Had tried for years to conceive with only devastating silence from God. So we circled her in prayer. Laid our hands upon her womb and asked God for one more time to grant her request for a child. He answered. Within the next few weeks, the woman was pregnant. She called to God and He answered.
She was abandoned as a young bride by the man she loved and married. Uncomfortable with wedded intimacy, he looked around for comfort in another direction. The bride was so young. In her early twenties. But she found a job, moved out and prayed. Believed God would restore her marriage through several years of waiting by herself. Didn't waiver in the belief God would bring her man back to her. We prayed with her, but not with the confidence with which she persevered. One day he'd had enough of life without her. Wanted to work it out. That was almost forty years ago. She called to God and He answered her.
Sandy wanted someone to tell her about God. A sovereign hunger pushed her to talk to a priest, a pastor, even neighbors. But no one, it seems, was able to tell her how to find God. She prayed to her unknown God, beseeching Him in her aching need, to send someone to tell her how she could find Him. I am sitting in my yard pulling weeds when I remember an ad I saw in the morning paper. It was for a beauty pageant. The idea of it had been in my mind in previous days when I looked at it, but it was a ludicrous thought. Me in a beauty pageant for grown women? But I couldn't shake the idea that God was trying to tell me something. When I asked Bill, he thought I should pursue it. (He thinks I'm beautiful.) It involved raising support, going to businesses for ad help and finding a dress shop that would donate a ball gown for a night--and it involved three-inch heels. I quickly lost the desire to obey the voice in my head, but not before I met Sandy. She came to my house to take pictures of me. Her father and step-mother were the pageant owners and coordinators. We spent some time talking in my living room. So, when I told her step-mom I didn't think I could do the pageant thing, she offered to let me into the competition free because Sandy loved me so. Okay. I went. Didn't win. And wondered what the heck? Then Sandy called me. Wanted to take me to lunch.
"Kay, I've got a question for you?" Sandy was picking at her salad. Antsy.
"Sure!" I responded. But I never pick at food, so my mouth was probably full!
"Can you tell me how to find God?" Her eyes filled with tears as she asked the question. "I feel like you're my last chance. Nobody can tell me where to find Him, and I want to so badly."
It was then I told her about Christ. I told her how her deep desire to know Him came from His deep desire to know her. That Jesus took me all the way to a beauty pageant in San Diego so I could tell her of His deep love for her. She bowed her head and prayed for Him to come into her heart. Right there in the steak house with tears spilling into her lettuce and tomatoes. Relief. Joy. At last the consummation of need with Savior. Bill introduced her husband to Jesus a week later. They remarried and had another child. Joined a local church. And now reach out to others. She cried out to God and He heard her prayer.
It helps to remember answered prayer. Those who've desperately sought Him. Seen Him move heaven and earth to meet their deepest needs. Maybe they aren't Moses and Aaron. Haven't seen the great miracles manifested from a burning bush or budding rod. Haven't anointed kings like Samuel or prophesied the will of God over nations. But they called out in their desperation and were answered nonetheless. Because we don't have to be mega-Christians for God to see us. He loves me and you as much as He did Moses, Aaron and Samuel. God desires to show us His great power. Not because we are going to change the world, but because He wants to change our world one prayer at a time.
We sat randomly spread out on couches for the Thursday night Bible study. Among the group was a new woman I'd never met. She was tatted up and had bleached blond hair. As Beth Moore began her message on the video screen, the woman was attentive but seemed agitated. Ready for something more in the moment to happen. It was when we began to pray that the reason for her coming that evening was made clear. A specific request she wanted us to take to God. She wanted a baby. Had tried for years to conceive with only devastating silence from God. So we circled her in prayer. Laid our hands upon her womb and asked God for one more time to grant her request for a child. He answered. Within the next few weeks, the woman was pregnant. She called to God and He answered.
She was abandoned as a young bride by the man she loved and married. Uncomfortable with wedded intimacy, he looked around for comfort in another direction. The bride was so young. In her early twenties. But she found a job, moved out and prayed. Believed God would restore her marriage through several years of waiting by herself. Didn't waiver in the belief God would bring her man back to her. We prayed with her, but not with the confidence with which she persevered. One day he'd had enough of life without her. Wanted to work it out. That was almost forty years ago. She called to God and He answered her.
Sandy wanted someone to tell her about God. A sovereign hunger pushed her to talk to a priest, a pastor, even neighbors. But no one, it seems, was able to tell her how to find God. She prayed to her unknown God, beseeching Him in her aching need, to send someone to tell her how she could find Him. I am sitting in my yard pulling weeds when I remember an ad I saw in the morning paper. It was for a beauty pageant. The idea of it had been in my mind in previous days when I looked at it, but it was a ludicrous thought. Me in a beauty pageant for grown women? But I couldn't shake the idea that God was trying to tell me something. When I asked Bill, he thought I should pursue it. (He thinks I'm beautiful.) It involved raising support, going to businesses for ad help and finding a dress shop that would donate a ball gown for a night--and it involved three-inch heels. I quickly lost the desire to obey the voice in my head, but not before I met Sandy. She came to my house to take pictures of me. Her father and step-mother were the pageant owners and coordinators. We spent some time talking in my living room. So, when I told her step-mom I didn't think I could do the pageant thing, she offered to let me into the competition free because Sandy loved me so. Okay. I went. Didn't win. And wondered what the heck? Then Sandy called me. Wanted to take me to lunch.
"Kay, I've got a question for you?" Sandy was picking at her salad. Antsy.
"Sure!" I responded. But I never pick at food, so my mouth was probably full!
"Can you tell me how to find God?" Her eyes filled with tears as she asked the question. "I feel like you're my last chance. Nobody can tell me where to find Him, and I want to so badly."
It was then I told her about Christ. I told her how her deep desire to know Him came from His deep desire to know her. That Jesus took me all the way to a beauty pageant in San Diego so I could tell her of His deep love for her. She bowed her head and prayed for Him to come into her heart. Right there in the steak house with tears spilling into her lettuce and tomatoes. Relief. Joy. At last the consummation of need with Savior. Bill introduced her husband to Jesus a week later. They remarried and had another child. Joined a local church. And now reach out to others. She cried out to God and He heard her prayer.
It helps to remember answered prayer. Those who've desperately sought Him. Seen Him move heaven and earth to meet their deepest needs. Maybe they aren't Moses and Aaron. Haven't seen the great miracles manifested from a burning bush or budding rod. Haven't anointed kings like Samuel or prophesied the will of God over nations. But they called out in their desperation and were answered nonetheless. Because we don't have to be mega-Christians for God to see us. He loves me and you as much as He did Moses, Aaron and Samuel. God desires to show us His great power. Not because we are going to change the world, but because He wants to change our world one prayer at a time.
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