Because Slavery Sucks

I happily discovered a biblical truth while reading another blogger’s post. Don’t you love how God works?

Leaf Insect

Here’s the excerpt from Tiffany Thinks, “Jesus read these words– ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Jesus read those words and the crowd simply sat there and complimented on how Jesus’ father must be so proud of him and how amazing Jesus is….so not the point of Jesus reading these powerful words. So Jesus speaks the truth—He says ‘No, you do not get what this passage means—God isn’t just for you, God is for those you don’t like, too, for those you feel don’t deserve an ounce of God’s mercy. God is bigger than you think, so much so that God doesn’t cater to your limited thinking about the world and the way it should work.’” (From Tiffany Thinks, read the whole post here. It’s worth reading.)

That’s important to understand because Jesus really pissed these scholars and religious leaders off. Really. He’s claiming to be the Messiah. They know this scripture, it’s from Isaiah. They’ve dedicated their lives to studying this scripture and others that talk about the Messiah. And here is this man they watched grow up. He sat in the synagogue with them. In fact, they probably thought that they somehow taught him what he knew about scripture. Let that sink in.

Erawan Stick Insect

Later in scripture, it shows just how mad they are: they try to KILL him. “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Luke 4:28-30

Here’s the biblical truth: The prayer of invisibility. I have often prayed this prayer without realizing its basis in scripture. It had just been the desire of my heart at the time. I’ll share one instance that really stands out.

Hanging with acquaintances at a bar, I watched a horrible scene unfold a few feet away.  A young woman, who had drank entirely too much, was hanging all over an older man, a man, that in my gut, I knew was bad news. Not because he looked a certain way or anything, just a gut thing. I watched, very uncomfortably as her friend tried to get her away and found out that she’d actually given her keys and wallet to this guy. He kept groping her and it was all very “get a room” behavior. After a few minutes, I just started praying. I mean, they were in my direct sight, and this is probably why I’d come this night to a bar when that really wasn’t my scene.

I prayed something like, “Lord Jesus, I pray that she would sober up and realize what’s going on. I pray protection over her. I pray she’d be invisible to him, that she would wake up. If she doesn’t know you, I pray she’d know you and if she does, I pray you’d call her back to you.” I hope I prayed for him, too. I just don’t remember. I prayed most of the night.

I remember specifically, praying that he would not be able to find her, that she would be invisible. What happened at the end of the night shocked me and yet it made total sense. She went to the restroom and her friend recovered her keys and wallet. She came out looking for this guy, the man she planned on going home with. But I watched her walk right past him, neither seeing the other one.

It was incredible, really. I had no idea what the prayer of invisibility would do, but I’ve prayed it many times since then. I’ve prayed it over myself, but I believe that story is for another post.

Jesus walked right through the angry mob that seeked to kill him. God is big, the biggest, as Lynn Jones says. He’ll love you where you’re at and then use others to bring you even closer to him. I was in a bar, a little tortured about what I was doing there anyways. And even so, God had me love another, a stranger, through prayer. I will never know what happened in the lives of that man and young woman. I don’t even really remember what either of them looks like. That is God’s business. I was meant to pray for them in that moment.

Who needs prayer now?