Have you ever invited someone to church, they accept, and then when they’re sitting by you there you find yourself sweating bullets during the entire service? Why do we do that? As if us sitting there being anxious is going to have any effect on what the person hears! I’m a person who eats when they’re stressed, so I’m thankful there are no snacks in the chair pockets immediately in front of me or else I’d probably be inconsiderate enough to sit and eat potato chips during the whole church service!
Whether you sit and stress or not, the bottom line is: When God wants a person to hear something, He’ll make them hear! Not me – or you – will bring a person to God, unless the Holy Spirit draws them (John 6:44).
I’ve written on and off about mother (i.e. What About Bill?), and the sorrow that my sister and I would experience regularly that mother did not know who Jesus was. It had gotten to the point that I just didn’t bother asking her to church anymore because I was tired of the snide comments and rejection.
So imagine my surprise one Easter morning when our phone rings at 9:00am. Who was it? Mother!
We were busy getting dressed in preparation to attend the 11:30 service, so at first we didn’t bother answering the phone. That is, until I heard the voicemail she was leaving.
Oh, just called wondering if you were going to church – I was thinking of going with you…
That got me snatching up the phone real quick, telling her we’d love to have her join us!
But then of course came the usual hemming and hawing: yes … no … yes … no…
Finally I told her we were going to be leaving our home at 11:00, so to call us back in a bit if she decided she wanted to go.
Of course at 11:00, as we’re heading out the door, the phone rings.
Gary runs to the phone to answer it, and mother tells him, I thought I might go, but now its probably too late. She says she’s dressed but has no shoes on.
She’s not getting out of it! Gary says, We’ll wait for you to get here.
What time did she finally show up? 11:20, and she didn’t live that far away! It normally took about 20 minutes just to drive to church – not including finding a place to park – so my attitude at that point was not exactly what I would call godly. But then I thought: Well at least she’s going, and she will hear the gospel.
Well by the time we got there, parked, and found some seats, we were very late and had to sit way at the back of the sanctuary. And unfortunately there were problems with the audio that day and we could barely hear the pastor! As mother already had problems with her hearing, I was heartbroken.
The service ends, and we head out to the car. As we all got settled, all of a sudden mom tells us: I really didn’t care for the pastor – he was speaking too loud!
What a hoot – what a great God! You cannot thwart God’s plans my friends. When He feels it’s time for someone to hear the Good News, He’ll even turn up a person’s hearing if He has to!
The God Of All Comfort 