Have you ever been led by God to do something and for whatever reason you failed to do it? I have, and find myself in pretty good company, because many of God's children have been disobedient to His first call.
Consider Jonah. God sent him one direction and he went the opposite. It took a trip through a whale to get Jonah doing what he was instructed to do.
My recent disobedience happened three days ago in the barber shop. I totally disobeyed God's instructions. What should you and I do after we miss God's call?
The barber shop where I get my hair cut has a pretty standard clientele. It is a small shop in an obscure location near the beach. (I just realized that I should have been on the lookout for a whale when I walked out of the place after missing God's call.)
The barber and I were the only people in the shop. He was putting the final touches on my haircut when a man in his late thirties walked in. The was neatly dressed, but certainly not a businessman.
"How much are haircuts?" the man inquired.
After the barber told him thirteen dollars, the man paused. You could almost hear the wheels turning as he weighed the cost of a haircut against why he wanted one. In a moment, he made his decision and sat down in a chair to await his turn.
As I got our of the barber chair, I wondered what had gone through the man's head in determining if he should go ahead with a haircut. Was he unemployed and going for a job interview? Did he think a fresh haircut would help his self-esteem? Did he only have a few dollars? Could he have been preparing to go to court, even divorce court? Lord, forgive me.
As I handed the barber a twenty dollar bill, God spoke to me to give the man my change. What if I had mis-read the situation entirely and the man was a millionaire because he was careful with his money? What if I embarrassed myself by looking like a rich big shot? The bottom line is that I feared rejection.
I stuck the change in my pocket, exchanged smiles with the man in mention and walked out the door of the shop. As soon as I was relating the incident to Charlyne, I realized that I had missed God's call in that situation. What is next?
First, we pray to God. You or I must repent to God in a situation like this for not following the leading of His Holy Spirit. I felt so ashamed of totally ignoring what He said to do. It was not that I needed the money for my daily bread. For some reason, I suddenly feared rejection.
Suppose I had offered the man a few dollars. Even if he did not need the help, knowing that God had directed someone else to offer help could have made his day. If he had been a millionaire, he could have been the person God had touched to answer my wife's prayer of a billboard in every state, but we will never know.
Second, after we miss God's call we need to be praying for the people involved. I have been asking God to bless whatever reason the man was seeking a haircut. If it was for a job interview, I have prayed he was hired. If it was for his self-esteem, I pray a new haircut made him feel like a new man.
Third, we need to ask God to use someone to meet the call that we missed. I was almost immediately praying that the barber, although not a Christian, would be touched to give that man a free haircut. If not, may God send that man a blessing this week.
Finally, when we miss God's call, small or large, we need to ask God to use us again. The odds are that I will never see that man again among the millions of people in South Florida, but God is at work, arranging scenarios just like the one I missed.
We can't sit out the game on the bench just because we fumbled the ball. The clock is running until Jesus comes back again.
Lord, help me next time not to miss Your call.
