Heed the Voice of the Lord

IF YOU will listen diligently to the voice of the Lord your God, being watchful to do

all His commandments which I command you this day,

the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you heed the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the field.

Deuteronomy 28:1-3 (Amplified)

I am completely blown away by the absolutely awesome reality that the Lord our God speaks to us!  I mean really speaks.  Though I have never heard the audible sound of His Voice, over the past few years I have come to recognize the inaudible "sound" of His Voice in my mind and heart.  Sometimes we have conversations that I initiate but recently I've been learning how important it is that I always be alert to listen for Him to interrupt my thoughts.  As Deuteronomy 28:2 states above, blessings are at stake!

This praiseworthy tale happened October 6th, 2010.  Just trying to put words to paper here causes tears to flow down my cheeks.  Who is this God who would care so much as to speak to me?  Praise God, though completely undeserved and the 100% result of grace - He's mine!

Some of my friends and I have just started the practice of getting together at our church for what we call "community cooking".  We all have busy families and want to maximize our time spent enjoying them and minimize the time we spend in the kitchen.  So, we've started getting together at our church and compiling a months worth of meals per family all in one day.  It's hard work but the work is shared and the benefits are proving huge.  It's also prompted a desire in some of us to be able to share our provisions with others.  As such, we really try to get the best deals possible on the ingredients that we purchase.  This is precisely the mission that I had been on.

Our local grocery store makes the habit of discounting day old and aging items but in order to take advantage of this pricing, you need to be among the first to arrive as the store opens.  I had been making frequent trips early in the morning but had been having neglible success on the ingredients that we needed, so I resigned myself to the fact that we were just going to have to pay regular retail on our items.  Now when 5 of us are planning on making 23 meals each, that's a significant loss of savings, especially on meat.  With only 2 mornings left before our big cook, I didn't bother to go early to see what they had.

I woke and started into my regular routine, but God quickly put a curve in my plan.  My husband needed a ride to work.  After dropping him off, I heard Him whisper to me "go and check out the meat selection."  I'd love to say that my response was "of course" but it wasn't.  Instead I began to argue with Him. 

"Well, Lord, I've been checking it each morning and there's been NOTHING!" 

Again, the gentle whisper, "go and check out the meat selection." 

"But, Lord, the store has been open for more than 2 hours.  There's not a chance that there's anything left."

Praise the Lord that He is gracious and mercifully persistent with me!  I came to the conclusion that He could, perhaps have saved me some deals and turned my van in that direction.  Now the most expensive item on our list was the chicken.  As I took a cart from the stall, I told the Lord that I was taking a cart on faith because I was going to look mighty stupid walking in and out of the store with an empty cart.  Oh, me of little faith!  I walked straight to the meat section and wouldn't you know it, the chicken thighs all had 30% off stickers on them.  I needed 140 chicken thighs and - you guessed it - there were exactly 140 chicken thighs being clearanced!  Of course!  Praise the Lord!

I went over an aisle and could hardly believe my eyes... the skinless, boneless chicken breasts were not only on sale for $3.98/lb but they were also all stickered at 30% off!  I quickly calculated how many breasts we needed (because of course I didn't have my list as I hadn't had any intention of coming to the grocery store that morning).  I needed 40 breasts.  I gathered 40 breasts and there were still more packages left.  I made a quick call to another group that was doing a similiar cook the next week.  I was able to gather all that they needed and there was even one package to spare which I purchased for myself.

As I made my way to the cashier - cart full of chicken - I was amazed at the awesome provision of the Lord but He wasn't done!  While I was standing in line a man tapped me on my shoulder and offered for me to be cashed out at customer service. He walked me over there and asked what all of the chicken was for.  I told him of our cook day and our plans to expand these provisions for those in need or to help others in crisis.  He then introduced himself as the new manager of the store and if I would put that information onto church letterhead, he would give us a gift card for $200 to help us get started! 

Can you believe it?  I couldn't and yet oh, how I should have!  My God works the miraculous all of the time!

The cashier rang in my items.  I have no idea what we saved by having the chicken be on sale but we saved more than $80 with the 30% off stickers.  On top of that, the bill came to $256 which was just enough to qualify for a free $25 gift card towards our next purchase.  I walked out of the grocery store having received more than $305 in savings on a $256 purchase! 

Our God is an awesome God!  He interrupted my plans to speak to me.  He showed grace as I was reluctant to heed and argued with the King of kings.  He led me to the place where He had prepared a miracle for me.  He went so far above and beyond my wildest dreams.  He showed me favor by putting me within view of the manager of the store and turning his heart toward our cause.  We were willing to share our provisions with those in need as an offering and He saved that for another time by pouring His own funds into His service.

I sing with joy!  I dance with delight!  My awe defies words!  My God is good and His provision is limitless!  Praise the Lord!

Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.

For the LORD is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!

Isaiah 30:18