Isaiah 30:21 (NIV)Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
You probably think by the title of my post that I am writing about modesty. While I am a firm advocate of modesty, the opinion that God voiced one cold wintery morning had nothing to do with a shirt that was too low cut or anything of the sort. In fact, because it was so cold out, I put on a long sleeve shirt with a high neckline.
It was always hard at the office to decide whether it would be warm or cold that day. The day prior to the particular morning God had an opinion, it was extremely warm in the office. So I decided to not wear long johns under my pants because I would roast and subsequently be tempted to nod off after lunch, all warm and toasty. I fixed my hair and make up and turned on my heel to go to work.
God said: You'll want warmer clothes today.
My response was to go extreme. You want warm clothes, God? I pulled out the largest, most heaviest sweater ever made and layered that over long johns. I also selected my warmest coat and boots. I hate wearing headwear during the winter, but I made sure I had that as well, and also gloves. I was certain I would roast in the office that day and that I would show God a thing or two about having an opinion about my outfit!
Needless to say, as I was driving to work that morning, I thought that the music on the radio had a very annoying beat. I turned the music up to hear it because it did not match the rhythm of the words at all! Oddly enough, the rhythm of the beat did not correspondingly increase in volume.
I noticed then that the car was driving strangely, but it being a snowy morning, I had to wait to pull over. Finally I cleared the intersection, pulled over in the snow, and found that I had a flat tire and the "odd beat" that I thought I heard on the radio was me driving and crunching the rim of the tire into scrap metal! Yikes!
Needless to say I had to pull all my summer tires out of the back of the car to try and find a jack, which took a while. The car did not have a jack so I stood out in the snow like a very lost person for some time before someone pulled over to see if I needed help. He did not have a jack that would fit my car, but returned home to get one from his other car that would fit. I waited outside in perhaps thirty or forty below-zero weather.
Finally, once my flat was swapped out with a winter tire, I drove to work and found that I had been outside so long that I was cold the entire day. Had I not listened to God, heard his still small voice, that morning, I would have lost my toes and ear tips to frostbite and perhaps frozen my thighs and other parts susceptible to cold damage.
I don't believe that a follower of Jesus must pray over whether or not they should wear warm clothes or lighter clothes in the morning in any season, or whether or not they should put ketchup or mustard on their hotdog, however I do believe that in the day-to-day, we need to be open to hear God's voice whisper in our ears his opinions, requests, and commands. He may utter something vital, such as, "This is the one you are going to marry," or he might tell you to not eat that ketchup because it's spoiled. Or, he might tell you that you'll want to change your outfit for the day.
I encourage you to cultivate your relationship with God so that you can recognize his voice. Also, don't be so busy or occupied or blasted with media that you do not have the opportunity to even hear his voice if he spoke. Often times we miss the quiet voice telling us to go to the right or the left because it's drowned out by distractions.
I know I must strive to be open to hearing. I know it's worth it-- I still have my ears and toes to prove it.
Psalm 91:11 (NASB)
For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.
When I was 14, I went on a few-week mission trip to the Philippines with the organization Reap International. I was really young, naive, and thought good of most people at that point in my life. I went wherever without a thought of what was going on and was completely unaware of any potential danger.
Apparently while we were there, there was a communist group called the New People's Army or NPA which was watching our team the duration of our time on one of the islands. The Filipinos would not let us sleep in certain villages because of kidnapping danger and I think the NPA lit off a bomb near the Bible School that Reap helps with to intimidate the American presence or something of the sort. I was completely oblivious.
I went from one place to the next smiling at everyone, leading worship at the churches, engaging in any activities that the other youth on our team were doing. One thing that I tried was riding on the outside of one of their local modes of transportation-- the tricee which is like a golf cart attached to a small motorbike. All the passengers ride in the "golf cart" side. It was really fun because my parents would never let me do anything risky like that (they did not come on the trip)... all until a Filipino man reached out and hooked his arm around my waist and tried to pull me off the tricee.
It didn't occur to me that I was in danger, I just didn't think it was very polite to rip people off tricees. I didn't struggle, I was too small then to have fought him and he was too large that I am not exactly sure how he had not succeeded. All I know was that one minute I was riding on the outside and he hooked his arm around my waist and pulled and the next minute I was flying/scrambling into the very full golf cart onto the laps of many people on our team. They asked me what the meaning of it was, thinking I was perhaps acting up, but I told them what had happened, so they let me ride on the inside.
I didn't fully realize the significance of this until I became older, for now I know of all the things that can happen to a 14 year old girl that gets kidnapped. I thought the worst that could have happened was that they might ransom me if it was the NPA that tried, but it could have been one of those people that steal children to sell them. Whichever was the case, I realize that God's divine hand was protecting me, because surely the man should have succeeded in kidnapping me to whatever end. But God's angels watched over me and kept me safe.
I know most people don't have stories like that, so I have really seen the incredible work of God in my life. I am sharing it here so that others can see that God truly is at work in the world, alive and active. My life has been evidence of it numerous times.
Luke 10:19 (NIV)
I have give you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
When I was 19, I went on a 6 months missions trip to the Philippines. The organization I went with, Mercy In Action, divided groups of students into teams and sent them out into various villages and places to conduct primary health care and educate on hygiene and the spread of disease. I happened to be an honorary member of the team because I never went through the schooling, so sometimes I had things to do such as count out pills as the "pharmacist" and other times I had to sit and observe. It was during one of the "sitting" sessions that I "sat" on a poisonous centipede.
In the Philippines, they frequently lay flooring in sheets loosely over concrete to make the floors look nicer. Because the sheets are not secured, things like creepy crawly insects and ants can crawl under them and make a nice little home for themselves. At one particular church, they had a small platform that was covered in this manner and I, in a skirt because it was so hot, decided I would sit on the edge of this platform and watch the pharmacist count pills.
I had gotten used to the feeling of an occasional ant or two crawling on my legs or my arms and sometimes up the back of my shirt. So long as they didn't bite, it wasn't worth the effort of finding it . It was so hot, too, that you really didn't care if a water buffalo came and sat on you. Actually, that might have been preferred, it was that hot and miserable.
I had one such feeling-of-an-ant crawling on the upper part of the inside of my leg and thought nothing about it. I made a joke to myself about having ants in my pants but I didn't care. The feeling continued on lot longer than normal, and I then felt concerned that it was not just an ant but perhaps I had sat on a nest of ants. Or maybe it was something else, like a cockroach. Or even worse, a spider. I had to do something, and fast!
It is not polite to reach into your skirt in any social setting, but because I was behind a table, I very quietly and sneakily did so only to find that my hand grasped something a LOT larger than an ant. I pulled it out, and my hand was full of a ginormous centipede which had found a nice, warm home in my skirt. There was one second of shock and then I threw it, shouting. A Filipino man saw what I threw and immediately became alarmed. He pulled off his sandal, for that is how Filipinos kill insects, and tried to kill it, but it was too fast. It got away and crawled under the flooring, back to where it had probably come from. The man tried to rip up the flooring to get to it but did not find it.
Meanwhile, a team member observed this exchange and came over to see if I was ok. The Filipino man informed us that it was poisonous and could kill with one bite. Or, it would cause so much pain that you would wish you had been killed. The team member told me that another missionary had seen a Filipino man cut off his arm rather than endure the pain of a bite of one of those centipedes. And it had been crawling in my skirt, and momentarily in my hand!
When I thought it through further, our whole team had all been sleeping on that floor in mosquito nets. The centipede had had multiple opportunities to find someone to bite (or to make a home in someone else's skirt), but we had never seen it before then. How blessed I was to have God's protection just as Jesus said in Luke 10:19!!! When we are in God's will we can not only trample on snakes and scorpions (or poisonous centipedes), but we can also sit on them or sleep on them... and no harm will come to us.
Be encouraged to do what God tells you to do, for he has given you authority to overcome the power of the evil one.
