Father, I humbly come before You pleading for Your mercy upon us. So many are either fighting this virus or being called to the front lines as we take a stand against it. Give us the strength to stand and fortitude to stay the course. Amen.
Luke 9:12-17 (<<click to read the passage)
This week I watched a video of a pastor from Ireland who is recovering from COVID-19. He was very close to death’s door and pleaded with God to answer his prayers by sending someone to encourage and bring him through. Now, of course, he was in an isolation ward where no family, no pastor – no one really from the outside – could get to him. But have you ever known God to be stopped by those kinds of things?
That very next day God sent a humble “cleaner” (a hospital janitor) by his room. This cleaner just “happened” to have spent fourteen years as a faithful missionary in Nigeria and though he couldn’t enter his room, they spoke for a time and then the cleaner prayed for God’s healing touch upon this pastor…and God touched him!
Shortly thereafter he was well enough that he was hungry and prayed once more. This time he humbly asked for something a little out of the ordinary – a can of coke and a bag of prawn cocktail crisps (a favorite snack in Great Britain, I’m told). That very next morning the cleaner returned and when he did, he slipped a bag through the doorway and what should be in the bag but a can of coke and a bag of prawn cocktail crisps! As he left, he said, “It’s a gift from the Lord.”
(God Sent a Cleaner <<click to watch his full testimony, it is well worth your time!)
I felt I needed to touch upon this passage from Luke 9 one more time. Jesus could easily have dismissed the huge crowd of people – 5,000 was just the number of men present…who knows how many women and children were there!
A friend of mine posed this question in response to my post from earlier today, “Ever wonder how long it took Jesus to break up that meal which wasn’t enough to start with into enough pieces to feed over five thousand?!” My hands would have been getting tired way before I was done!
But that didn’t stop Jesus. He knows our need. He is concerned about every aspect of our lives – spiritual and physical. He most assuredly has great compassion regarding us…even down to the smallest of requests, a bag of prawn cocktail crisps!
During this time of pandemic, we all seem to be more sensitive to God’s presence in our lives. I pray that we, as followers of Jesus, are more open to touching others – for Him! – than ever before. May that be the case, but…may we not stop with the here and now! As we live our lives may we always be about bringing wholeness to the lives of His children, just as He did and still does for us! Amen!
Apr 8th, 2020, Wed, 8:31 pm
