Today's Scripture Reading (November 14, 2024): Exodus 14
It's story time. I admit that I love stories.
Many years ago, I was at a conference, and I heard the story of an unnamed
woman. This woman was waiting at her local airport for her flight. She
had gone through security, and now she was just waiting for the announcement
that her flight was beginning its boarding procedure. Sitting in the same area
of the airport was an older man in a wheelchair who was also being prepared to
board the plane. He was being brought to the front of the line so that he could
board first. The man wore pajamas with spilled food on them, and his long hair
was a tangled mess. The unkempt look both brought the attention of others in
the area and their attempts at ignoring the man. The man just sat there staring
into space. The lady was a Christian, and she felt God was asking her to go and
comb the man's hair.
I can imagine
the conversation taking place between this woman and her God. Are you kidding
me? Here in this place? What would people think? God, I can't do that! The
airport was crowded and she tried to ignore God's prodding, but God kept on pushing
and making the ask. Finally, she gave in, moved over to the older man, and
softly asked him if she could comb his hair. Unfortunately, the man
was also hard of hearing. God was not going to make this easy.
So, in this
crowded airport, she found herself shouting at this man in the wheelchair, "Can
I brush your hair?" The man replied, yes. To
which the lady had to respond, "I don't have a brush. Do you have a brush?"
The man
pointed to a bag stuffed under his wheelchair, and she reached in, pulled out a
brush, and softly, just like she had for her daughters many times before,
started to untangle the man's hair. As she worked on his hair, she
continued to talk to the man and found out that he was being flown to see his
wife, who was in another hospital and wasn't expected to live. As
she was standing, wondering if she should carry out the plan that God already
had in mind, he was sitting in the chair thinking that he was going to see the
love of his life one last time, and he looked like an absolute mess.
God tells Moses. Why aren't you moving? Why
are you sitting there crying out to me? God isn't
trying to say that prayer, or crying out to God, is wrong, but that prayer
involves listening. Prayer is a two-way street. Too often, we treat prayer as
something we do to get God to see our side. But we are wrong. Prayer involves speaking
to God but also listening to God; it involves God changing us so that we are
willing to go and brush a stranger's hair.
We don't
listen, let me rephrase, I don't listen; at least, not enough. I have my agenda
and my wish list. Too often, my prayers are filled with my voice, not God's. We
pray like prayer is supposed to be me bending God's will to ours. We even ask
the question. Does God change his mind? And if he doesn't, the next question we
ask is, "What good is prayer?"
Prayer is always
a conversation. Prayer is not me telling God what is on my wish list and then sitting
back to find out what God will do. Prayer involves listening and action. We don't
serve a God who is simply a symbol in our lives. We serve a God who continuously
tries to communicate with us and shape us so that we can be his hands and feet
on the earth; so that we will even be willing to brush a stranger's hair.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Exodus 15
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