When God Speaks

Yesterday, the Lord had me drive to an electronics store. I did not want to go. The Lord said go, I said no thanks. He said go, I said no thanks. Well, God won. I walked around looking at the latest electronics.  One TV had a crystal clear picture that you could see a few blackheads on the person’s nose, pimples on the face, and other features that were not good. That ended the TV experience for me, not interested in seeing a person’s flaws.

There is this audio system that sounds amazing but the price is more than a luxury car.  It has been a dream of mine to have one since I love music so much.  The sound is sweet to my ears.  It reminds me of the day I told God, His music was awful.  He said wait, it is coming.  He was right, Hillsong United is my musical choice.  Who knew God listens.  Today though, He wanted me to listen to Him.

On the way out, I had this feeling of giving away the money I had in my pocket. It was not much but enough to buy a days’ worth of food and drink. The Lord asked me to take a right, left, and a right which I knew led me to a few people who would ask for money, food or something to drink. Pretty much every stop light in my town there is someone standing on all four corners. 

As I pulled up to the stop light in the right turn lane only, the arrow was green but we were not moving.  This means the first car was going straight and not turning.  It happens all the time at this light.  It is a long light so we would be there a while.  I looked around, no one was standing there. I thought, that is strange, but it is almost a 100 degrees F outside, I would not blame them if it was too hot to ask for people to give.  

All of a sudden, this young man starts to walk closer to me with his shirt off. He can’t be more than 25 years old. Where did he come from? I roll down my window and say hi to him. He says hi back. I hand him the money, telling him not to buy drugs. He responds I don’t do drugs. I looked him deep in the eyes and he knew he was caught in a lie. His teeth and frail body would say otherwise. 

I emphasized again this was for food and drink saying I was sorry you were going through this, it must be hard. He said it is. I said we must do something to help people like you. He said, well a man asked me if I wanted a job. His eyes lit up, his smile wide, I start Monday. That is great news. Congrats. He says, yeah, I really need this. We fist pumped each other and said all the best to him.

The man next to me got his attention as he rolled his passenger side window down asking him a question. I rolled up the window thinking to myself “thank you God but now my soul will be in deep thought today for people we have neglected and allowed them to live on the streets.” 

I can tell you right now writing this, that somber feeling of what can I do more or what can we do more as a society, as God’s people, is still lingering with me like a burden of epic proportions. It is heavy, it is deep, it is gloomy, and it is strong.  

Jesus talks about how we are to live our daily lives in Matthew 6. He talks about do not worry for tomorrow but that we all should live for today. God will provide for our daily needs. Yet, most people drive by this man who needs our help today.    

The irony is my son asked me when I got home, where did you go. I told him the electronics store. He says why don’t you buy a nice stereo for yourself. I know you want one.  No thanks Matt, I don’t need it. 

I went from one extreme of expensive luxury electronics to a simple man looking to survive a day until Monday when hopefully a sincere man will provide a job.  This promise brought a few days of hope to this young man. Maybe I was conned by this young man that there is no job. I can only trust God, he was the right person that needed the money to get through this day.  God took me to two extreme's in life in a matter of a few minutes.  Where is your heart?  

Do you “Believe God” when he asks you to do something for Him?