A Tap On The Shoulder
I was sitting in church intently listening when the preacher said, “There may come a time in your life when God taps you on the shoulder and how you respond to that tap will change your life forever.” As soon as the words came from his mouth, I felt a literal tap on my shoulder. At the close of the service, I turned to the couple sitting behind me and said, “That wasn’t funny.” They stared at me like I was a crazy woman while I proceeded to tell them, I knew that they had tapped me on the shoulder at the appropriate time. They were shocked by my words and I knew they stood innocent.
So where had the literal tap come from? Did someone drop something down from the balcony? Or had God really come close and tapped me? Had He singled me out? Was this the tap the preacher was referring to?
There was no explanation in the natural of what happened, but I took it very seriously. I went before the Lord trembling in prayer and told Him if that was His tap. My answer was yes. Whatever He wanted from me, it was a yes.
I remember in prior days a mentor had challenged me to be ready and expectant for God. Her words described us standing on our tiptoes with hands raised to God saying, “Choose me God. Choose me!” Living in a position of readiness was new to me at that time.
Needless to say, all of this together had me a bit freaked out; but in a good way.
Sometimes God’s ways of getting our attention are strange and unexplainable.
We can keep him in our “That Makes Sense” box or we can live this life of faith He beckons us to. Oftentimes there are no human explanations to the way things occur. Circumstances don’t look like, feel like or sound like it could possibly be God. But He is God and we are not and He is able to accomplish His will any way that He chooses. I am given the privilege to choose to respond by the spirit or by the flesh.
I could have stood up in church and demanded, “Who tapped me on the shoulder at just the right moment?” I could have spent hours thinking, pondering, seeking to understand what this was all about.
When I try to understand the ways of God with my mind,
I will become paralyzed by my own thinking and miss the Spirit.
Paralyzed with my own demand to understand will cause me to miss many surprises, treasures, revelations and experiences that await me. It is all part of Jesus comparing us to little children that believe with simple, unhindered faith, a faith that accepts God’s ways and thoughts are higher than mine. His ways are always right, although not always comfortable or pleasurable. His ways often lead us down paths of great suffering and sacrifice, but I will still say, “His ways are always right and best.”
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
(Isaiah 55:8-9)
Faith responds: “God I don’t understand what just happened. I don’t know what to do with the tap, but I say, “Yes”. I trust you God. I choose you and I choose your way. I take my own thoughts captive and choose your word over my own understanding.”
That one simple yes many years ago have led to many yes’s in my life. I am learning to trust Him more every day because His ways are always right. Is there some unexplainable things that you need to lay down today and accept that He is a good Father, perfect in all His ways? Do you need to lay down your demand to understand? Will you let Him have your “Yes”?
You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. Ps. 119:68
“God requires our obedience before our understanding.”
-Christine Caine