The Bottom of Your Foot
In a recent conversation with my son, Josh, we were discussing whether or not God chooses to play an active role in our daily lives. Many of the comments made by Josh were the type that I hear often from others. I understand these thoughts because I, too, at one time felt the same way. I knew that there was a God up there, but I didn’t think that He had very much to do with me down here. I figured that He had much “bigger fish to fry” than to have to mess with my life. I have pondered this thought especially when traveling by jet across the country. I look down from way above and see tiny cars with tiny people inside. It is in those times when I reflect how little I am in this world. I think, “How can God, while controlling the entire universe, have anything to do with my daily life?”
I’m sure that Josh has wondered if God has ever spoken to him. Do you sometimes hear people say, “The Lord told me ‘such and so’,” and you wonder if the Lord speaks to you? In one of my past lessons, I taught from the title Listen to Him. The title comes from the Gospel found in the Books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Luke 9:35 the Bible says, “A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." Do you seek to hear from Him? Did you know that if one continued to ignore His voice, He will finally go silent?
I write these lessons in order to draw you nearer to the Lord. I enjoy sharing the real life stories of seeing the hand of God playing an active role in my life. I tell these in order for you to see His active role in your life. That is why my new book has the title, Things Don’t Just Happen. I tell these stories to help you connect the dots in order for you to see His active hand in your life. Listen to Him, draw nearer to Him, because you don’t want Him to finally become silent to you.
This story is for Josh: Several years ago my wife, Julie, decided on a whim to take Josh to the dermatologist just for a check up. In all of my years of growing up, I never went to the dermatologist just to be looked at. When I heard her say that she planned to visit the doctor, I thought: “Why do you want to go spend money when nothing is wrong?” (I didn’t say that out loud because I had already learned the lesson of following a mother’s intuition. I know that the Lord has blessed mothers with this gift.) Praise the Lord for mothers, because if it were up to us guys, heaven help our children. We would just put duct tape over things, trying to fix them ourselves.
I can look back now and see the Lord’s active hand in this prompting of Julie to take Josh to the doctor. There was actually something wrong with Josh, and if I told you that the doctor spotted a cancerous mole on Josh during his visit, you may think, “Well praise the Lord for prompting Julie to visit the doctor.” But here’s what is so bizarre to me about this visit: (Josh this is the Lord’s reminder.) Josh is only 14 years old, and he’s sitting in the waiting room to see the doctor with his mother. He knows that he is there just to be checked over. He looks up at his mom and says, “Mom, did you know that I have a mole on the bottom of my foot?” (Now let me ask you here, have you ever looked at the bottom of your foot?) I can hardly pull my leg around to even see the bottom of my foot. I KNOW as a child I never would just look at the bottom of my foot.
I am thoroughly convinced that this prompting could have only come from the Lord. Jesus tells us in Luke 12:7, “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If He knows about the numbers of hairs, or the lack thereof, on our head, He certainly knows all other things about us. Julie told Josh that they would let the doctor check out that mole as well. Can you believe that in everything that was checked on Josh’s body that day, only that mole was a concern to the doctor? She took a sample of the mole and sent it to the lab for observation. The mole was a cancerous melanoma. You see, things don’t just happen for those that follow the Lord’s lead, and desire to hear from Him. My wife has sought after the Lord’s guidance since she was a young girl. She enjoys hearing from Him through the Word of God, and from people of God. The Bible says, “in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6 NIV). (On my annual visit to the dermatologist each year now, I raise my foot up and say to him, “Look here as well.”)
Did you know that a very famous king, at one time, enjoyed hearing from God? He was ministered to through a man of God. You may be surprised to find out which king this is, because he is more famous for the ungodly end to his life. When he decided to stop listening, the Lord decided to stop speaking to him. (You are REALLY on your own when the Lord stops speaking to you.) The king was King Herod. This is the very same king who ordered the removal of the head of John the Baptist. You may be thinking, “Robby I know about him ordering the removal of the head of John the Baptist, but where do you get that he enjoyed hearing from God?”
I get it from the same story where he ordered the removal of John’s head. In the Gospel of Mark chapter 6 the Bible tells us why John ended up in prison. John’s preaching was perhaps beginning to work on King Herod’s spirit, but the preaching was offending his wife Herodias. The Bible says, “For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him” (Mark 6:17-19). It was Herod’s wife who wanted John dead, not Herod. Life is full of choices. We either choose to hear from God, (through John in this story), and follow His ways, or we listen to the world, (the wife Herodias in this story), in which we live. To whom do you listen? Like I said earlier, if you choose to stop listening to Him and following His guidance, He will stop speaking to you.
Here is the part of this story that is very interesting to me: The Bible says that Herod’s wife, Herodias, was not able to have John killed because Herod liked to listen to John: “Herodias was enraged and wanted John killed in revenge, but without Herod's approval she was powerless” (Mark 6:19 NLT). The things that John taught, (God speaking to Herod through John), were disturbing to Herod’s inner spirit: “And Herod respected John, knowing that he was a good and holy man, so he kept him under his protection. Herod was disturbed whenever he talked with John, but even so, he liked to listen to him” (V. 20).
After John was gone, Herod missed hearing from God. Over time I would imagine that Herod was no longer “disturbed” in his spirit. He became excited again when he heard about God working miracles through Jesus. The Bible says, “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him" (Matthew 14:1-2). The Book of Luke says, “But Herod said, ‘I beheaded John. Who, then, is this I hear such things about?’ And he tried to see him” (Luke 9:9 NIV). Perhaps Herod missed John, and wanted to see Jesus? Just maybe he missed being “disturbed” in his spirit? Sometimes when we go a while without any communication with God, we know that something is missing inside. If we wait too long, that empty feeling will go away, and there will be no answer.
Just before the crucifixion of Jesus, Herod got his chance to see and talk with the Man/ God, Jesus. But time had passed and Herod had not changed his ways, nor had he changed his desires for change; he had no repentance. (Herod did not follow God’s instruction given to him through John.) John’s famous quote was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’"(Matthew 3:1-2). Now, finally, was his chance. He had many questions for Jesus to answer now. The Bible says, “When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions” (Luke 23:8-9). Do you remember the response of Jesus to Herod’s questioning? Perhaps Jesus would respond by His same answer to the seekers on their way to Emmaus after the resurrection, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Or perhaps Jesus would respond briefly like He had just finished doing in front of Pilate? No, Herod had his chance with John, many Old Testament people had their chance with the prophets, and you have your chance today through prayer. The Bible teaches us the response of Jesus to Herod. The Bible says, “but Jesus gave him no answer.” There was no more hearing from God for Herod. But that’s not you! You wouldn’t be reading this if you were not seeking to draw nearer to the Lord.
The Bible says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). I can assure my son Josh, and I can assure you, that if you seek the Lord, and follow His ways, He will listen to you, guide your path, and give you answers. Here is the Bible’s promise: “This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it--the Lord is his name: 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know'” (Jeremiah 33:2-3). He’s been there all along; you just didn’t know that He knew you so well, telling you about the “unsearchable thing” such as the bottom of your foot.
Robby
