I am the type of person who gets annoyed at the characters in the bible. I read their stories and I just sit there baffled, repeating the same monologue in my mind over and over: “Why would you do that? Why don’t you just listed to God, you idiot?” I sit in my self righteousness believing that if I was in that situation I would make a much better decision.
The other day I was sitting on the beautiful beach in Da Nang, Vietnam. It was the day after Christmas and I was spending time with the Lord. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a man. He was wearing dark green from head to toe; he had a dark green hat and a dark green long sleeve jacket and dark green pants. It stood out because Da Nang is similar to Florida in that it’s about 80 degrees here in December. I tried my darnedest to ignore him and spend time with God but I couldn’t; my eyes were fixated on him. He looked to be about 30 and his green clothes were tattered and worn. He was sitting on the sand holding a bag and he looked anxious. I watched him as he got up and approached a man, seemingly trying to sell something. The man turned away and ignored him. I saw him walk up to a woman and she ignored him as well, as if He didn’t even exist. He then walked up to a third person and this person yelled at him. At that moment I felt the Lord tell me to give him $5, but for some reason my heart rebelled. I began to argue with God. The dialogue went a little like this “but I don’t have any money” and He replied “check your bag”… and there it was, $5 that I had never before noticed sitting in my front pocket. I said “but everyone is telling him to go away, maybe He is selling drugs or something and I don’t want to just give hand outs” and God said “give him $5.” I said “okay, when he walks up to me and tries to sell something to me I will give him $5.” But, he never did.
The man looked disheartened after his 3rd rejection and started shuffling down the beach; his stride wasn’t quite natural. I sat there in defiance for minutes but couldn’t take my eyes off of him as he got smaller and smaller next to the crashing waves. My heart started to beat fast and I said “no, you didn’t meet my stipulations so I don’t have to give it to him.” God replied, very simply, “I don’t have to meet your stipulations.” My heart started beating fast. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I got up, took 5 dollars out of my bag, and started chasing this man down the beach. Yep… chasing. Vietnam waves are not like Florida waves, though, especially on the Gulf of Mexico. I tried to surf a few days before and I was at a point of absolute exhaustion just from trying to paddle out without getting knocked out and dying. There are extremely vigilant life guards who don’t allow you to swim unless you are surfing because the waves are so big and currents so fierce. I ran down the beach and the tide very suddenly changed… a wave came out of nowhere and took me out. It was embarrassing and my body hurt a bit but in the moment I was convinced it was a wave from the devil so I kept on running. I was determined… I would not leave that beach until I gave this man $5, regardless of how much dignity I lost and emotional/physical pain I incurred. People stared as if I was crazy, running down the beach, soaking wet and fully clothed with a backpack around one arm and my Birkenstocks in hand. It was like a sad version of Baywatch. Finally, I caught up to the man, and I approached him very awkwardly and tried to say hello in Vietnamese but I forget how… so I said “Sin Chi…. I mean Hi. Hello.” He had just been pushed away by a local. He didn’t speak English, but smiled and opened his bag. He was selling a coupon book of some sort and handed it to me. I handed it back to him, gave him a damp $5 bill and said “God bless you.” He nodded with glee and shuffled away.
In that moment I realized I was late for plans with some of our students so I power walked back down the beach. It was hot and the sun not only dried me but caused a solid sweat glisten to cover my body. When I got back to our hostel I fell on the ground in exhaustion and my teammate asked me what happened. I told her the story and then I realized something… I am an idiot. Yea, God made me wonderfully and stuff, but I am a human and I am just like all those biblical characters who don’t listen to God. I realized I am just like Jonah.
God asked Jonah to do something, but Jonah rebelled and it didn’t work out well for him… He finally agreed to do it but there was a caveat; he had to live inside a whale for 3 days. I always read that story and that stuff about the Israelites and think, “wow, they are idiots… if they just listened to God their lives would be so much easier.” I know my situation was a smaller scale than living inside the belly of a whale for 3 days or the wilderness for 40 years but it’s symbolic. God wanted to teach me that same lesson. If I had just listened to Him and given the man $5 in the first place I wouldn’t have had to run down the beach twice and my life would have been a lot easier and dryer that day. I am not telling this story to get glory for running down the beach to give a man money nor am I proud of this moment of defiance. The truth is, I don’t even know why I rebelled against God in that moment. What I do know is that the devil cultivated a spirit of rebellion in my heart and made me fear the outcome of listening to my convictions. I’m sure the devil was working the same way in the minds of those biblical characters and in your mind too sometimes. I realized God wanted to teach me to listen and to recognize that He is smarter than me and doesn’t follow my rules. I don’t know why God told me to give him $5 or what will happen with that money or why he was wearing all green, and I probably never will, but that isn’t the point. God may somehow use that $5 in incredible ways or maybe that man just needed lunch or maybe God just wanted to use this bystander to teach me a lesson. Either way, I learned one. Maybe I get so aggravated when I read about the Israelites and Noah because I relate to them and I don’t like it.
The point of this anecdote and my rambling thoughts are that I want to make a change. Here’s to starting out 2017 with a new resolution: to listen to God and not be one of those idiots running down the beach soaking wet or living in a whale or complaining about manna, ya know? I challenge you all to listen to God and see what He is calling you to do this year. I challenge you to not limit God’s ability in your life by setting rules and allowing the devil to speak. Don’t let God’s call on your life shuffle too far down the beach; sooner or later you won’t be able to reach it.
Happy New Year, friends!
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. – Jeremiah 29:11
