Nothing Except.....From Misery to Mercy to Ministry, Part 3
The hysterical young woman could not catch her breath. Ugly crying. Slowly, she obeyed my instructions to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth. The tears continued to roll as she described her family crisis and each word felt like a hammer to my own soul. How could I help her? I wanted to say, "I got nothin'" but my faith forced me to step back and send that SOS prayer, "Jesus, help!"
Did Elisha feel that way when the desperate preacher's widow cried and begged him to save her sons from the creditors? Maybe just for an instant! But what flowed from his mouth not only challenges me when I feel hopeless but is a counseling technique that has equipped me to guide a broken person from misery to mercy to ministry.
Just Do It
Just do it. If the desperate widow described in my previous two posts lived today, Elisha might have had to utter this three-word Nike slogan to get her to respond to his mysterious instructions: "You and your son, gather up as many empty bottles and jars from your neighbors as you can find....."
For the Back Story of the Widow and Elisha
See Nothing Except...From Misery to Mercy to Ministry
and:
Nothing Except.....From Misery to Mercy to Ministry, Part 2
I imagine how I might have responded if I were her. An incredulous look, slumped shoulders, a deep sigh, concluding this crazy prophet isn't going to help me save my boys.
I wonder if Elisha gave her "the look." If you had a father like mine, you know that look.
"Just do it. Do what I said."
I believe that's what Elisabeth Elliot had in mind when she stated:
Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today? How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person's seemingly small act of obedience! Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.
Elisabeth Elliot and Daughter Valarie, living with those who killed Jim
Elisabeth Elliot was married to Jim Elliot. They served as missionaries to the Waodani tribe in Ecuador. They had a 10 month old daughter. Along with other families, they prayed and surrendered and followed God's leading to this isolated place. They prayed for protection but more than that, they prayed for God's purposes to be fulfilled, that people would come to know Jesus. To their shock, Jim and four other husbands died when they were attacked by the very people they came to touch with the gospel of Jesus.
I imagine Elisabeth prayed words similar to the despairing widow. And perhaps God's direction shocked her - return and love those who murdered your husband. Do you think her unflappable exhortation to obedience is rooted not only in Scripture but her own life's calling?
After the deaths of our son,Mark, and his friend,Kelly,I turned to Elisabeth as a long distance mentor, hungry for someone ahead of me in this grief journey to call back and tell me what to do, how to face each day.
Discipline, the Glad Surrender
was in our library, calling my name.
But as I read the first few pages, I wanted to throw it across the room. For threaded throughout her words was a clarion call to obey, to do the next thing, no matter how painful or hard. Years later I told Elisabeth how her book and ultimately her unwavering faith and trust in our Lord impacted me in those dark moments. Because one day I read all of it and recognized that doing the next thing, no matter how insignificant that act might appear, is critical to experiencing the help and hope that Jesus offers. Elisabeth's grace-filled response to me reminded me again of how surrender to God's purposes becomes the perfect grid through which to push His call to obedience in the mundane, with complete confidence that His purposes are perfect.
This despairing widow's response to Elisha's instructions reflects the same message of Elisabeth's words:
Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.
Read Nothing Except....From Misery to Mercy to Ministry, Part 2
to learn about the profound way this woman's obedience moved her from misery to mercy to ministry. And let this despairing widow be a spiritual mother for us today.
Teaching Moments
#1 Teaching Moment
Sometimes God asks us to do something with no explanation of why or how our obedience might benefit us.
Elisha did not explain the whole plan to the widow. He gave her one step at a time. If she didn't obey the first seemingly crazy step, she would not have experienced the miraculous treasure of God meeting the needs of her family. She had to beg her neighbors for help with no idea of how God would use that step to meet her needs. Is God calling you to obedience that seems fruitless and perhaps a pathway that you believe will lead to humiliation or more hurt? For instance, "Honor your husband." Years ago I taught a Bible study called
The Challenge of Being a Woman.
After the class on respecting our husbands a young wife cried to me, "I can't stand my husband. How am I supposed to respect him. I don't even like him."
I asked her to tell me about him and why she married him. In other words, "What do you have in your house....let's find something you do like about this man." It was hard for her to get past her emotions, but eventually she recognized that he wasn't as bad as she thought. I gave her this assignment. "Respect is an act of the will, not an emotion. Let's make respecting your husband very practical. Every day this week, write your husband a note in which you appreciate one tiny thing you do like about him. Do this in spite of your feelings. Do not lie. Start with thanking him for going to work each day to support your family. If he loads the dishwasher, thank him for that, or taking out the trash or filling up the car gas tank." At first she resisted because she felt it was hypocritical since she didn't "feel" grateful. But then agreed she would do what I said. The next week she grabbed me and exclaimed, "What started out as drudgery has ended up being fun! My husband doesn't know what has happened to me or what to expect, but he likes it and I'm starting to rediscover my love for my husband!"
Of course, this is a simple story and deeper problems require deeper obedience and long term transformation. But sometimes that transformation can start with a simple, humble act of obedience on the part of one person. The widow had to put aside her pride and "beg" for help from her neighbors. Trusting the man of God's direction without knowing how in the world such obedience would lead her to a place of peace and security required action on her part.
#2. Teaching Moment
How often do we ask God to solve a problem for us quickly and with His power and He refuses a quick fix. Instead, He wants simple obedience to every day directives, such as respect your husband, love your neighbor, forgive others because such obedience will have a much BIGGER impact than if He performed a quick miracle.
Little is much when God is in it.
This widow was empty and was probably expecting Elisha to help her by paying her bills. Yet instead of a quick fix, God wants the widow's faith and the faith of her sons to deepen. Elisha tells her to look around for other empty jars. She learned that what little she had could fill those jars when she obeyed. And that those filled jars would fill up the empty places in her life (pay her bills) and she would have enough left over to meet the ongoing needs of her boys and herself. When we are broken, we think we have nothing to give to others and in fact, don't even have the energy to look around for other empty jars.
Yet sometimes that is exactly the moment God wants us to look around and see who else is empty and needs us to pour what little we have in to their lives, trusting God to not only meet their needs, but to give back to us more than we could have ever envisioned needing.It seems counter intuitive, but when we obediently pour our sometimes broken lives into the the empty vessels of others, God often works a miracle of healing in us.
#3 Teaching Moment
Sometimes our lives are not about us but about those watching us
The widow's sons witnessed and participated in this faith moment. I wonder how this miracle impacted their lives and equipped them to walk by faith. Who is watching you or me? When I wanted to quit writing
Treasures in Darkness, A Grieving Mother Shares Her Heart
Chuck told me to write for our grandchildren, because some day they will face broken places in their lives and our story might help turn their hearts toward our God with trust and obedience. Our obedience often becomes an investment in the life of another and our legacy, sometimes like a little acorn, grows into a big sheltering tree, providing safety and life for generations to come.
Back to my hysterical friend who could barely get the despairing words through her sobs and wails. I could not fix her. But what did I have "in my house" that God could supernaturally transform in to something meaningful for her? It seemed ludicrous at the time but I "felt" God telling me to ask her to read some scriptures. My gut response was, "She is hyper ventilating, how in the world can she read anything?' Yet, the only sure thing I had was His Word so I opened my Bible to His promises and asked her to read aloud scriptures like this one: "The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble." The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. Psalm 37:39-40
Her incredulous look at my request echoed my original response to God's nudge. But, though she could barely see the words through her tears and was unable to finish a sentence because of her sobs she took the Bible and slowly began to read. With each word, her emotions settled and her voice grew stronger. Her problems were the same but her perspective supernaturally changed and she was able to meet the needs of her family with hope and courage because of God's Word.
I've seen God do that same supernatural work in broken women again and again, as they read out loud His living Word - He calms our hearts and gives us hope.
What do you have in your house? Attempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.
In His grip,
Sharon