I stumbled onto Isaiah 50:4 the other day and plan never to be without it. The New American Standard Version reads like this: “The Lord has given me the tongue of disciples that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.”
Everyone I know down here is weary. Some are weary in well-doing, some are weary for just “doing,” and many are weary for their own reasons. Everyone needs a good word.
In our Wednesday pastors’ meeting, attended by thirty, some of whom came late or left early, we heard the kind of reports that do indeed sustain the weary one. Most were praise reports.
Rudy French told of a church team visiting his FBC-Norco from Forest, Louisiana. Yesterday, they knocked on doors in St. Bernard Parish and led three people to Christ. The pastor led one, Rudy led another, and then, the third guy is the one that stood out. Rudy said, “I was driving the van and dropping the group off in small clusters. I was driving down a street and noticed this guy in his yard working on his car. He was shirtless, sweating, tattooed, wearing a bandanna on his head.” When the fellow waved a greeting, Rudy stopped to chat with him. Soon, he was sharing his faith in Christ and the man was weeping, praying to receive the Lord.
Rudy said, “I came back and told our group about him, and one of the men said, ‘Wait a minute. You said he was shirtless and wearing a bandanna on his head?’ Right. The man said, ‘I spent a half-hour witnessing to that same guy before you got there. And he wanted nothing to do with the Lord. What happened?'”
Rudy said, “I told him, ‘I don’t know what happened. The Lord just intervened.'”
Ken Taylor (Elysian Fields/Gentilly Church) said, “We had a lady in church Sunday. I heard her saying, ‘I grew up Catholic. I’d drive past Baptist churches like this one. I never dreamed in a hundred years I would someday be sitting inside one studying my Bible with you folks.”
David Rhymes (NAMB evangelism strategist) brought out a handful of cards. Ken Brasfield of Oklahoma has been visiting in our neighborhoods and met these people. Many need to be in your churches. Most of them indicate that the person prayed with Ken to be saved. You need to do followup with them.
David insisted, “Pastors, don’t be lazy. Don’t let these gather dust, and do not shunt them off onto other church members. You visit them. Knock on their doors and get to know them.”
Boogie Melerine (Delacroix Church) interrupted David to say, “Hey! Here’s a card for my cousin. He lived next door to our old church. (The one Katrina blew away.) The card says ‘Received Christ as personal Savior.’ Glory! That’s the best news I’ve had all day!! I can’t wait to see him.”
That’s the kind of news that will “sustain the weary one.”
Visitors to our home page of www.joemckeever.com see that my “life verse” is Job 4:4, “Your words have stood men on their feet.” That reads like a close cousin to Isaiah 50:4, doesn’t it.
Two kinds of words stand people on their feet: words of comfort and words of exhortation. On occasions, the struggling believer needs the sweetness of a mother and sometimes, he responds better to the sternness of a father.
Or, to use another metaphor, it’s like a coach on the sidelines. Sometimes, he puts his arm around a player and whispers softly in his ear that “I believe in you, son,” and “You can do it.” At other times, a good coach will get in the kid’s face blaring out some equivalent of “Who do you think you are?” and “That was the sorriest thing I have ever seen in my life!”
“Lord, give us the tongues of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We recall how He spoke a word and Lazarus–dead four days and decomposing rapidly–walked out of the tomb; He spoke a word and the paralytic–brought down through the ceiling of the crowded house–stood up, rolled up his pallet and walked home.
Jesus spoke a word and a dying thief was ushered into Paradise. Spoke another word and a 12-year-old girl was restored to her parents from the deathbed.
Words are so powerful, Lord, with their ability both to cut and to heal, to destroy and to build up.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, show us how to wield this two-edged sword wisely, to speak words carefully, and to utter only that which brings blessing to others and joy to Thee.
Give us the words that will comfort the hurting, give hope to the despairing, and arouse faith in the faltering.
Through Jesus Christ, Amen.”
Sometimes we get “heart hugs” just when we need them. A few weeks ago at church my dear friend Polly was there with her precious children. Sophie is beautiful and talented beyond measure and Alex is beautiful and has the heart of an angel. He also has Down Syndrome. When he saw me come out of the choir loft to sit with my husband, he immediately left his family and came running to sit with us, giving us hugs and kisses and telling us how glad he was to see us and how much he loved us. That’s a “heart hug” that just can’t be replaced. We should never think that small kindnesses are unnoticed even if nothing is ever said. Thanks Joe for sharing your encouraging words whether we are weary or not.
Joe: In recent years I have heard the following in relation to our everyday living. People are either going into the fire, are in the fire, or coming out of the fire. Fire is not to be taken as literal fire. Sometimes there are breaks in between the above that give us a respite for a short while. Thanks be to God for those moments.
Another quote, I cannot remember where I first heard or read it, goes like this, ” Be careful what you say. Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”
Good advice if we would heed it ALL the time. Sometimes we talk when we should be listening with an intense ear to those we are seeking to touch with the “Good News”. If they sense that we hear them they are more likely to listen to us when we speak.
Thanks, Bro. Cole. I printed that one out and taped it to my computer.
Thanks Karen for letting me know.