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The days had dawned overcast and gray for the last several
mornings. The muddy brown of early
spring found puddles in which to collect.
Umbrellas accompanied those leaving their homes, and the wet seat of my
car reminded me that my once pristine sun-roof had turned twenty this past
January.
So many things crowded my to-do list that I wondered how
they would all get done. The next day we
were to leave on an out-of-state trip, but another thought flashed on the radar screen of my
mind, beeping at odd moments, corralling my thoughts in one important
direction: I must visit my friend before I left-- the one who’d been diagnosed
with multiple brain tumors three months before.
I’d been praying for an opportunity to share Christ with her
and had sought, each time I saw her, to plant little seed thoughts of spiritual
things. I’d left tracts and even an
audio presentation for her, but I knew I needed to open my mouth and share with her how she
could know, from the Bible, that she would have eternal life. Thus, I’d prayed for the right opportunity,
specifically asking for an absence of distractions, that I might openly
share the Gospel with her. While I believed God would open the door, I also
knew I had a job: I must walk through that open door.
And that day, after a week of rain, a situation occurred
that nearly distracted me from God’s plan.
It tugged at my spirit, seeking to bring it down into a mindset of
discouragement and defeat. But I knew
that spirit was not of God.
“Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines;
the labour of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the
LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet,
and he will make me to walk upon
mine high places”—Habakkuk 3:16-18.
Some years ago, these treasures
tucked away in Habakkuk had ministered to my spirit. They reminded me in a spiritually difficult
time that, although eternal results do not appear to be occurring as we would
like to see them, we can—in the midst of such circumstances—rejoice.
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| A fig tree |
I was reminded of what I'd learned of the fig tree back in January on our trip to Israel.
“Do
you see this tree?” Our guide had asked, as
we made our way through a nature preserve to the historic site of Tel Dan. When we looked up, we discerned two tiny pieces of fruit on the tree, which towered a few feet above the tallest member of our group. Our guide identified this as a fig tree and
explained that this tree should always have some kind of fruit on it. He reminded us how Jesus had cursed the
fig tree He passed which had no fruit.
While the fig tree should hypothetically always have fruit, it doesn't always blossom. And sometimes that's how the spiritual world around us looks-- as we note a seeming dearth of eternally significant fruit in the landscape about us. And it is in those difficult times that we must rest in these directives from Habakkuk--rejoice! Regardless of what you see around you, take heart and joy in God.
As I asked God for His help in giving the Gospel to my friend, He directed me to claim Habakkuk 3:17, go
forward in faith, and rejoice in Him. He also amazingly granted me an extra hour in that event-packed
afternoon so I could make the visit which I desired. What a
gracious God He is!
“Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I
will joy in the God of my salvation.” I
was quoting the verse as I parked my car.
I was speaking it quietly to myself as I made my way out into the dreary
rain and rehearsing it in my mind as I walked down the halls of the building
where my friend lived.
I knocked on the slightly-opened
door and a voice I did not recognize signaled me inside. Looking up, I noticed a friendly nurse, who had
not been there the week before. After I
had introduced myself, the nurse informed me it was about time for my sleeping
friend to awaken, though she'd experienced an unprecedentedly difficult night the evening before.
My friend was curled up on her bed when I entered the room,
face slightly swollen from her illness.
Oxygen tubes extended from her nose and mouth, but she was completely
cognizant. We had several things in common,
and as I shared with her the truth of being born again, from John 3, her intent
look and manner informed me that her heart was ready to hear.
“No, I haven’t come to Christ,” she told me, after I’d shared with her my testimony. Like me, she had been
raised in a very religious home, but today she'd heard from God’s Word that
it was not baptism or communion that saved a person—it was repentant faith in
Christ.
“Would you like to be born again?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said.
“You can do so now, right here, in this bed," I told
her—mentioning how in my own story, I had gotten saved as a child, ready to be tucked into bed for the evening. You don’t have to be in a church building or
anything.”
She told me she wanted to turn to Christ later--when she was alone,
by herself.
Together, we prayed and I asked God to continue to help my
friend understand her spiritual need and to give her freedom from the feeling of pain. When I said “Amen,” she added, “If it be Thy will.”
After leaving the visit that day, I called some dear sisters in Christ and prayed with them. I
feel confident that my friend did, indeed, trust Christ for salvation, as she indicated she would.
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| Door of Opportunity |
My friend passed away within days of my return. She had slipped into
a coma and then departed from this earth before I could see her again. How grateful I was for God’s open door, for
His direct answer to prayer in allowing me to see her and share the Gospel with
her, and for her words to me that she would come to Christ.
With the events surrounding that visit, I was reminded of our need as believers to ever walk in faith, live by the truth of
God’s Word, and be continually aware of the devil’s devices to distract us from a very intentional goal of
our Savior--to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke
19:10). Anything that diverts us from
this mission must not capture our attention. Rather, we must place our gaze upon Him, our eternal Strength and Savior, so that we might gladly proclaim His
name.
Has He not redeemed us to be to the "praise
of His glory" (Eph. 1:12)? Let us then stand ready, ever aware of
the enemy’s strategy for our minds and hearts to be distracted by times of barrenness or a seeming lack of eternal fruit and instead walk by faith, following the voice of our Savior, our ever-present Help in trouble.
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