Ben Milstead

My Uncle Larry and his family were missionaries in Zambia, Africa in the early 80’s.  I was lucky enough to be able to visit them for three weeks while they were there, a trip that still impacts me to this day.   Not long after my uncle moved to Zambia, someone tried to break in to break in their house.  The robber was caught in the act.  They had a big pit on the edge of their property where they threw their trash and then buried it.  The robber didn’t know it was there and fell in it while running away.  He apparently sprained an ankle badly because he couldn’t move.

Larry, with the help of a neighbor, took the robber to the Police.  They had a trial on the spot and found the guy guilty.  The penalty for breaking in to someone elses house was….THEY CUT OFF A HAND!!!  My uncle did not know this and begged the Police not to do that.  But this robber had been caught before and since it was a second offense, cutting off a hand was the only punishment available.  The only way to avoid this was for my uncle not to press charges.  Uncle Larry later said that he could not live with himself knowing he could have kept someone from losing a hand and didn’t.  So my uncle dropped the charges even though the robber repeatedly asked that he be given what he deserved.

The next day the robber showed up at my uncle’s front door, still limping badly.  He told them that he was now indebted to them and needed a way to show his gratitude for the mercy that had been shown to him.  He said he wanted to work off the debt he now felt he owed.  My uncle agreed and allowed the robber to be a gardener for his yard and to take care of the 15 fruit trees they had.

Fast forward several months.  “Henry” the former robber, was still working for my uncle but not for free.  Uncle Larry began to pay Henry from day one and continued this practice.  In fact, they became friends and Larry eventually lead Henry to Christ.   Henry cared for my relatives like no other.  It was a relationship that started with grace and mercy that is hard to find now days.

If ever there’s a prayer I’m NOT praying it’s “Lord, give me what I deserve.”  When you get right down to it, none of us deserve to even be alive.  We certainly don’t deserve to have all the comforts of life.  We certainly don’t deserve to be saved.  By by His grace, He doesn’t give us what we deserve.

Hey Pastors!  Raise your hand if you have ever had a church member say “God told me that you should…..”.  Raise your hand if you have ever sat in a committee meeting and heard the group start down a path that you (as the Pastor) knew wasn’t the way the Lord had directed you.  Don’t raise your hand if you have ever caved in.  Someone might be watching. 

The first time I read 1 Kings 13 it really messed me up.  Here’s what happened in a nutshell.  A person referred to as “a Man of God ” (identified in an earlier chapter as a man named Shemaiah) was instructed by God to go to Bethel.  God also told him not to eat or drink while in Bethel.  The Man of God (I’ll call Preacher Pat) was so committed to this that he turned down an offer to dine with the king there.  But another man, identified as an old prophet (I’ll call Deacon Dan), lived in Bethel and found Preacher Pat.  Deacon Dan lied to Preacher Pat and told him that he was a Man of God too and that God had told him to give him food and water and a place to stay.  So Preacher Pat went and ate with Deacon Dan.  Once Preacher Pat left and headed back home, God sent a lion to kill Preacher Pat.

Are you kidding me?  This ticked me off the first time I read it.  Why would God kill Preacher Pat?  It wasn’t his fault!  He was lied to by someone with the credentials of a prophet.  How was he to know?  After thinking about this for a few months I realized the following. 

1)  If the Lord gives you specific instruction, you should follow that instruction regardless of what anyone else tells you.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think great wisdom can emerge from a group of godly men seeking His will.  But on some issues, particularly those given specifically by God to a “Man of God”, the directive cannot and should not change.

2) If those around you tell you they are there to deliver a message from God you should validate that with the Man Himself!  Preacher Pat stuck to his guns in the beginning.  The King of Bethel invited him to dinner and Pat refused.  Pat went as far as to tell the King that he wouldn’t eat with him even if he promised to give him half of his wealth.  But when an old man approached him and said that he too was a prophet, Preacher Pat crumbled like a cookie.  The fate of Preacher Pat would have been much different if Pat would have just validated the prophets claims with God before he diverted from the plan.

3)  The easy way out will get you in trouble if it’s not God’s way.  For crying out loud, Preacher Pat was hungry!  I felt sorry for the guy.  He had a need and someone offered to meet that need.  Why shouldn’t he eat?  Simple….God told him not to!  No matter how desperate the situation might feel, God will take care of those that are at the center of His will. 

4) God takes disobedience seriously.  Does death by lion ring a bell?  It does to this Man of God, or should I say corpse of God.  The Lord could have had the man killed by robbers or some freak accident.  He sent a lion!  I wonder if the use of a lion was Gods way of sending a message to everyone else, especially Deacon Dan, that he was not happy with the disobedience. 

Pastors:  You are the Man of God.  You are the leader of your church second only to Christ himself.  Surround yourself with people that you trust and seek their council.  God can and sometimes does speak to those around you who will, in turn, share that with you.  But in a matter in which God gives you clear direction, directly from Him to you, He is the only one that should change that direction.  Your council can assist you with the logistics and implementation but don’t allow anyone else to talk you out of following God’s instruction.

Everyone else:  Never mask your personal agenda, wants or desires, behind the phrase “God told me to tell you…”  If you do not trust that Christ is leading your church through your pastor, you need to examine your pastor or your own heart because there is a problem with one of the two.  To second guess that direction is to second guess God and undermines the leadership of your pastor.   In the words of that wise bumpersticker I once saw:  GOD SAID IT, I BELIEVE IT, THAT SETTLES IT.   When you try to circumvent the will of God, and lie in the process, something is going to die!  It might be your church, your reputation, or your pastors career. 

Sadly, I’ve known lots of Deacon Dans and even played that part myself in the past.  I’ve seen the Preacher Pats of church world listen to their committees more than they listen to God.  We are taught to protect ourselves from the things of the world but it’s the things of the church that sometimes devour us.

A few weeks ago I stopped by the grocery store before picking the boys up from school.  The kids love orange Tic Tacs so I grabbed a couple of packs.  I went on to the school to get them and we started our normal conversation.  ”How was your day? - Fine.  What did you learn today? - Nothing.  Did you get in trouble? - I don’t think so.”  I gave them both the small gift expecting praises to Daddy and excitement, etc.  NOTHING!  Not even a glance.  Not a pause in their conversation.  Not even a little ole ”thank you”.  So I calmly pulled the car over, got out, opened the back door, and made both of them hand over the Tic Tac’s.   I closed the door and walked back around to the driver’s side.  As I got in the car I was greeted with “Thank you….thank you Daddy…..can we have them back?”

My kids will never see those Tic Tacs again because I felt like I needed to make a point they wouldn’t forget.  All I wanted was a simple thank you or even an acknowledgment that I had given them a gift.

Last week  I read 1 Chronicles 16:8: Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what He has done.  I was reminded of the point I had made with my kids the week before.  What if God did to us what I did to my kids when we don’t say thank you?  I give thanks for the big gifts but what about the everyday gifts that He gives us?  It hurt when my kids didn’t acknowledge my gift even though it was something small.  I can only imagine how God feels when we take so many things for granted.

A few years ago Mahalie and I were invited to go to Colorado with some friends.  It was going to be an all expense paid trip once we got there, we just had to pay for a plane ticket.  But we had two kids at the time and a busy life.  I was unsure of the travel plans and our itenerary so we opted to stay home. One day I got this postcard in the mail from the same friends.  It was a picture of a huge ski slope covered in fresh powder.  A nice little cabin was over to one side with smoke coming out of the chimney.  It was more inviting than I could have ever imagined.  Across the top of the postcard it said “Wish You Were Here!”  To think that I could have been right there!!  Dang. 

What if you went to your mailbox one day and there was a postcard from God.  “Wish you were here” across the top of it with a picture and description of where you could have been in life if only you would have gone where He wanted you to go.    I wonder what opportunities we have blown because we decided not to follow His direction.  I wonder what that kind of happiness would have felt like.  I wonder what the note on the back would say.  I’ve never seen a postcard from an unhappy place, have you? 

Although we have all missed opportunities in the past, rest assured there will be more.  It’s not too late to find out what HE has in store for your life.  He invites us everyday.  Be ready.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jer 29:11

Several months ago I was driving to Charlotte by myself.  It’s about a two hour drive from where I live.  I arrived at my destination,  got out of the car, and started hearing some sort of alarm faintly in the distance.  It was another couple of minutes before I realized it was the alarm on my watch…the alarm I had set to notify me that I needed to be leaving home and on my way to Charlotte.  The alarm that had been going off for over two hours.  I never heard it!

I firmly believe that God is constantly talking to us but we have to be willing to listen!  So many times I’ve found myself saying “I just want to know God’s will” or “I just don’t hear Him saying anything”.  Well are you listening?  To God?  Maybe we don’t hear Him because our life is too loud.  We wake up to a radio.  I have a radio in the bathroom when I’m getting ready in the mornings.  Radio and kids are on in the car on the drive to school and to work.  You walk in the office and there are co-workers and music.  Many of us even fall asleep with the TV on!  So when do we allow time to hear God?  Our 10 minute quiet time in the mornings isn’t enough for some.  Turn life off for a second.  You would be amazed at what you hear.

In my homegroup a few weeks ago we got on the conversation about how some of us wake up in the middle of the night and our mind starts wondering and we can’t get back to sleep.  When that happens to me I end up turning the TV on.  Why?  Because I don’t want to hear the things going on in my mind.  Maybe that’s God trying to communicate with us.  If that’s the only time we give Him then that’s the time he’s going to take.  Psalm 46:10 “Be Still and know that I am God” can be translated several different ways.  One of the most obvious for me is to, are you ready for this?  BE STILL and KNOW that I AM GOD!!  Be quiet and listen!   The alarm on my watch was there the whole time.  It tried to talk to me for over two hours.  Just because I didn’t hear it doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening.  I wonder how many times that’s happened between me and God?

 So why would I blog?  I’m Blogging for….ME!   It’s one of my ways that I can “Be Still”.   I find it easier to remember things if I write them down and to formulate the thoughts in my head.   I must admit that, up until about six months ago, I thought this was the dumbest thing on the net.  That was until I started reading several blogs on a daily basis.  I have learned from others, been inspired by others, and have expanded my mind beyond the limits I had once set for myself. 

Hebrews 12: 1-2
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.