To The Lady in the Pink Hat

We saw you at the edge of the water as we finished dinner at a seaside cafe.

A lady in a pink hat.

How could we miss it? 

You were covered in black from head to toe. 

You looked like the other covered ladies walking by.

But your pink hat caught our attention. 

A big floppy pink hat. 

With it you said,

"I am here! I am beautiful!"

And I know you are.

Not because I can see past the  black cloth that engulfs even your face.

But because I know your Creator.

And He makes all things beautiful.

We joined you at the edge of the water, after we finished dinner at the seaside cafe.

A lady in a pink hat.

"We love your hat!"

You were covered in black from head to toe.

You looked like the other covered ladies walking by.

But your eyes shone like sapphires.

Under the floppy hat.

Your husband said,

"She is too beautiful for others to see."

We chat for a few minutes.

It's tricky because of the black cloth that engulfs even your face.

But I know your Creator.

And I'm asking Him to make all things beautiful.

You won't be standing there on the beach the next time I'm at the seaside cafe.

Lady in the pink hat.

You'll be back home.

You'll be covered in black from head to toe.

Surrounded by covered ladies walking by.

But God has set eternity in your heart.

So I will pray for you.

The Lady in the Pink Hat.

Touch

In your village today, I held your baby. He is so tiny, so perfect.

I glance around the crazy home he has been born into.

It’s not just the dirty floor we sit on, or the man smoking in the corner.

It’s not just the smell of too many bodies living in one place.

It’s the spiritual darkness that permeates this dim room.

It’s the despair in the grandmother’s eye.

But you don’t seem worried like me. This is all you know.

Your baby: everyone is afraid to touch him. He’s so tiny they might hurt him.

I’m not afraid. I know he won’t break. Not from a gentle touch.

A gentle touch.

People don’t touch very much around here do they?

The first time we met, I was surprised. I shook hands with your mother, but no one else.

And now, as I cuddle the tiniest little baby in my arms, I try to remember.

Do you touch at all?

I have seen people slap…a lot. Parents slapping children. Children slapping each other.

In fact, come to think of it, I myself have been slapped in the face by one of the kids!

Jesus used touch.

When Jesus touched, He healed the broken. When Jesus touched, He blessed the children.

You are broken. How can I show you that Jesus heals?

You have children. How can I bless your children with Jesus' love?

You’ve never felt a loving touch. You’ve never felt His healing touch.

Will you let me get close? Will you let me pat your shoulder, hug you, hold your hand?

It’s a risk for me too you know. The last time you came close, you tried to steal from my purse.

The last time I leaned in close, I think I got lice.

But I am here to share the love of Jesus. And Jesus touched people.

So I will hold your baby, I will hold your hand.

And if need be, take another slap on the face.

Jesus offers you healing and blessing.

It’s a gentle touch.

Will you accept it?

Gideon and the Reset

What do you do when the problem outweighs any solution you can come up with? Do you have the courage to ask God for help? I ask this for all of us because if you have any history of trusting God in a life situation, you know that He sometimes works in “unorthodox” ways. Are you (am I) ready for that? This is what I asked myself as I read Judges 6 and 7. 

The Characters:

1. First we have the Midianites. Judges 6:1-6 describes them and they are quite nasty. A formidable enemy. 
2. Second we have Gideon. He has a personal and active relationship with the Lord. He is the latest leader of Israel’s army. 
3. Third we have the Israelites. They have a colorful past, but a steady history with God. Among the Israelites, we have 32,000 warriors.

The Problem: the Midianite warriors. They are too many to even count (Judges 6:5). They are mean, they are heartless, they are destructive. They must be defeated.

The Solution: Well, it’s not a COUNTLESS number, but 32,000 able-bodied warriors is nothing to shake a stick at. They have a leader chosen by God Himself. The Israelites are ready to draw the battle lines.

It’s at this time that Gideon, this new leader, this man of God who is clearly seeking the Lord for signs, wisdom, and guidance, announces a…Volunteer "Retirement" Incentive? It is entirely optional, but anyone who wants to do so may leave. What? What on earth is Gideon doing? Maybe not too many people will leave. But… more than 1/3 of the army takes the offer! Ten thousand men are left to fight. That’s a very countable number, even if you only have parchment and a bowl of ink. It’s crazy. It’s unorthodox. But even with so few, maybe the Israelites will yet survive.

Wait, it’s not over. Not only does God not want Gideon to rely on sheer numbers, He does not want Gideon to rely on…logic? Seriously. Who chooses an army by their table manners? God did not choose His army by skill or experience. He chose by…ability to lap water like a dog? Are you kidding me? Apparently Israelites had very good upbringing because out of 10,000 men, only 300 had bad manners.

Now 300 men are preparing to fight a countless number of warriors. These men can’t even drink properly. Not only that, they are left to carry their packs and the packs of 9,700 other men (Judges 7:8). That means each man had to carry the provisions of 33 men. The KJV says “victuals” instead of “provisions” and the Hebrew equivalent is “meat”. So food.

The other thing they had to carry for the 9,700 who were “invited to go find a new job” were their weapons… right? They were going to war after all. Surely 33 extra swords per warrior would come in handy. No, not weapons. Their trumpets. Really? If I were one of the 300 lap-like-a-dog Israelites getting ready to go fight a swarm of nasty enemies, I might take the extra meat, but I’m certainly not gonna sling 33 extra trumpets over my shoulder and run to the battle line. But Scripture clearly mentions that the men took over the extra food and trumpets. Why trumpets? Because God had a plan and He was still in control.

Now everyone is a little perturbed at Gideon (ok, I’m reading into the story, but wouldn’t you be perturbed?) and in the middle of the night Gideon gets honest with himself and God. He’s scared. How do we know? Because God tells him, “If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying.” (7:10-11). And Gideon does it. So he must have been afraid.

God encourages him that night. But perhaps not right away. The first thing Gideon sees as he makes his way into the valley of the enemy is that the enemy is bigger than he originally thought. They are described in number as “sands on the seashore”. And that was just their camels y’all. The warriors themselves were “thick as locusts.” Yuk. And Yikes.

But as he gets within earshot, he hears one warrior tell another warrior about a wacked out dream that he had. A loaf of bread knocked a tent over. A loaf of bread. One tent. Indigestion perhaps? One too many slices of garlic bread the night before? No. His friend doesn’t think so. His friend pronounces, “This can only mean the entire army will be destroyed!!!” Or something similar to that. Definitely in a dramatic doomsday voice. Gideon realizes that God whom he serves is already at work.

What does Gideon do? He worships God.

Out of the gracious encouragement he receives from his communion with God, Gideon wakes his army (it doesn’t take long, there’s only 300 of them) and casts vision.

It gets crazier y’all.

Now Gideon orders them to divide into three groups. They are looking at each other and thinking, is he kidding? The best chance we have is to at least stay together. Safety in numbers, right? What are three measly groups of a hundred against the biggest enemy in the world?

Gideon is unfazed. He goes to each group and hands out their weapons. Each man gets a torch, an empty jar, and a trumpet. You’ve got to be joking. I can almost hear Gideon say, “No, I’m not joking. Now, do like I do. We’re gonna sneak up to the camp on three different sides. Then on the count of three we are gonna all yell ‘BOO!’”

But I guess guys who drink water from a spring like a dog are also the kind who will try anything, even if it sounds crazy. Or maybe they trusted Gideon that much. Or maybe God had a hold of their hearts so strongly that they were with him heart and soul.

In the end the Israelites won and no one could say it was because of the Israelites themselves that the Midianites were defeated. God was right all along, it was by Him Alone. It should always be that way. Jonathan told his armor-bearer, when facing the Philistines, that “Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6)

The lesson: God is in control. He always has been. Sometimes His ways make sense to us. Sometimes they are way out of our box. But in everything, all the time, no matter what: God is in control. The enemy doesn’t startle Him. We don’t either. Neither do we mess Him up. He can use 32,000 of us, or 300 of us. It’s up to Him.

Isaiah 46:10-11 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

The Power of Forgetfulness

The power of forgetfulness...

Take Joshua for example. He led the Israelites to victory in the Promised Land. What wonderful miracles God performed on behalf of His people when, by His mighty hand, He conquered their enemies and gave them a land “flowing with milk and honey.” After Joshua died, a “generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things He had done for Israel.”

In fact, the Old Testament recounts story after story of the kings of Israel and Judah who left the God of the covenant.

What happened?

They forgot. Forgetfulness is that powerful.

God knew mankind’s tendency to forget. Before His chosen people even entered the Promised Land, God warned them not to forget.

“Impress them (His commandments) on your children.” He said. “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”(Deut. 6:7-9; 11:18-20). He commanded them to tell their children about Him and His decrees—to weave the words into their daily lives.

God even predicted that after a few years of comfortable living, they would be tempted to forget the hundreds of years of relying on God for their very existence.

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Deuteronomy 8:10-14

One generation. Boom. The covenant was broken.

What happened?

Parents forgot to tell their children.

When parents forgot to tell their children the mighty works of God, they themselves forgot what He had done for them.

When God’s people forgot what He had done for them, they stopped obeying Him. They turned to other things for their security. They forgot to obey.

When they forgot to obey God, they forgot to look to Him when faced with troubles.

Generations of forgetfulness passed and by the time Jesus walked among the people of God, they had no anchor, no direction. God’s people had forgotten so many things and replaced God in so many ways.

No wonder Jesus had compassion on the people. “They were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34)

Is it the same for you and me today? Of course! We have that same forgetful tendency that the Israelites had.

Take me for example. Right now I live in an easy place. I live on a tropical island with all the culture and quaintness I could want, but with the medical care and modern facilities practically at my fingertips. What’s not to love about the place I live? In seasons like this, it is easy for me to forget those many years of “wilderness days” when God was literally my only hope. Is it wrong to be here? No. So how do I fight forgetfulness? By recounting the mighty works of God.

Remembering is just as powerful as forgetting. When I recount the mighty deeds of God, I remember all He has done for us. When I remember all He has done for us, I want to obey Him. When I obey God, I look only to Him when I face impossible situations.

David, when confronted with problems beyond his ability to conquer, recalled the mighty deeds of God (Psalm 77) and that’s where He found strength.

The same strength is available for us today. We serve a mighty God. Let’s not forget the mighty things He has done. His works are to be shared with next generation. Let’s be the generation that pointed others to God. It only takes one generation to forget. Let’s be the generation that remembers.