An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder.  She caught the man in the act of robbing her home, so she yelled, "Stop!  Acts 2:38!  I said stop!  Acts 2:38!"  (That verse reads, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.")  But the burglar didn't know them -- He just stopped dead in his tracks.  The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.  As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, "Why did you just stand there?  All the old lady did was yell a Bible verse to you."  "Bible verse?" replied the burglar.  "She said she had an axe and two 38's!"

          We can't always predict the impact of our words on others.  A stern word of warning changes one man's life and protects a woman from danger.  A kind word of hope brings a person back to the Lord but a judgmental word drives someone over the edge.  We can't always predict the impact of our words on others.

          A few weeks ago I received an E-mail from a woman from my first North Dakota church some 30 years ago.  I had counselled her for about a year when she was going through some adolescent troubles.  She had lost both her parents and struggled with almost everything.  Frankly, I came to consider her a pest and assumed she noticed I felt that way.  But no matter, as she kept coming back to talk, mostly ask for advice.  Once about ten years ago she'd even called to ask my advice whether to marry a certain man.  Evidently some of the things I said stuck with her, for her E-mail expressed her strong faith in God and her being pleased with her marriage.  She then thanked me for what I had told her, whatever it was.

          It's so strange to hear from people who said I told them things I can't remember.  Well, thanks be to God she's doing well.  You and I don't always realize the impact of our words on others.  Nor do we realize the impact of our actions, however well-meaning they may have been.  Sometimes they can get us into real trouble.

          One New Year's Eve at my Church in Riverside, California, I was hugging some of the parishioners as they left worship, both men and women.  Everyone there hugs everyone else, and so I joined in.  Among those present was a thin, frail woman whose husband was in the Chino State Prison.  That night was the first time I had met her, and I remembered what others had told me of her circumstances.  A few months later I helped bring her husband to a halfway house as he was being released after serving six years for theft.  I remember the night because I experienced my first earthquake -- at midnight outside in my garage -- and our house was on a hillside!  This same man confessed to me later in counselling that he had murdered two men in prison.  Not one, but two men, and though he said it was in self-defense, it left quite an impression.  And I don't think he was lying just to impress me.  He was getting off his chest things that were bothering him.  This fellow was one tough cookie!

          One night later that summer he called me, absolutely furious.  I went to his home, again late at night, and learned that his wife had confessed to him she had some romantic feelings for me, based on that one New Year's Eve hug, that one small gesture of warmth, freely given, one among so many she had received that night.  This she told to a man who'd killed people!  I tried explaining this is called transference and that it often happens in the helping professions, and the only way to overcome it is to openly talk about it as his wife had done.  I just babbled on and on, hoping to diffuse a very tense situation.  It must have worked because I left there in one piece!  There's nothing like the possibility of death to awaken your senses!  And when I left Riverside they were still married.

          I prayed a lot during that meeting.  He didn't know it, but that fellow had inspired me to fervent prayer, the likes of which I hadn't known in ages.  Right there in his living room, I was calling on the Lord in my day of trouble, a reaction that can easily happen when your life is being threatened.  I once had a drunken man in Utah shake his fist at me across my desk, furious that I told his wife I'd help her pack up and leave if he ever came home drunk and beat her up again.  I still remember that huge fist in my face and thinking, "If I'm going to get beat up, it might as well be in my own office!"  I was busy calling on the name of the Lord!  (It's so nice living here in Colorado!)

          It's just amazing how a simple gesture can bring joy to one person and pain to another.  In today's Gospel lesson Jesus was bringing joy to the outcasts of society, dining with them, enjoying their company, loving them in spite of their sinful lives.  But the religious people watching only could complain about this.  Never mind that Jesus was reaching out to the untouchables of society, the ones they were rejecting.  Never mind He helped bring some of them to heaven.  Some people can only look for problems, never solutions.  So Jesus responded, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick....  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13)   That only angered them.  You see, it's always easier to point fingers at people than help them.

          God tells us in today's Bible text, "Call upon me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you and you will honor me."  How has your day of trouble been going?  We all have them, you know.  He says, "Call upon me..."  Sometimes that's a quiet prayer, and sometimes it's a frantic one, but in either case, it's prayer.  God hears all our prayers, even our clumsy ones, the half-sentences before we fall asleep, the blurted-out prayers of scared, confused people who think no one is listening.  But He listens, to the words of our lips and the words of our hearts.  He knows what we need, usually even before we pray.

          He says, "Call upon me in the day of trouble..."  We all have those days, filled with troubles of our own making, or troubles dumped upon us by others, or troubles that make no sense.  Why did someone have to run that red light and smash my car now?  Why is my wife sick again when she was just getting to feel better?  Why can't my parents stop arguing, or why can't my brother grow up and be a man?  Why do my troubles never seem to end?  It's not a day of trouble, it's a week or a month or a year of trouble!  God hears those thoughts and He just says, "Call on me, in whatever trouble comes your way."

          He says, "Call upon me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you..."  We pray, "Deliver us from evil," and He does!  Deliverance is sometimes simple and other times complex, coming through many small things happening all in just the right way.  He may not deliver you the way you thought, but you're still delivered!  God's ways aren't our ways - they're better!  Years ago in the middle of a huge and impersonal church where I was spinning my wheels, I prayed for God to give me a small church filled with joyful people I could know, and He answered my prayer.  True, we're not always joyful and our church may not stay small for long, but I thank Him for His deliverance every day.

          "Call upon me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you and you will honor me."  So now it's time to honor Him.  Honoring God means worshipping Him regularly and daily giving thanks for what He's done for you.  Honoring God means believing His Son Jesus is your Savior and giving Him your faith and life.  Honoring God means being the best parents you can be, or the best children, or the best neighbors, or the best church members, or the best workers, all because God has been so good to you.

          A father said he hadn't heard from his daughter in months and then she called to ask for money.  "But, you know," he said, "I'd rather hear her ask for something than not hear from her at all."  I got a phone call from my eldest son last week and it was a joy just to hear his voice.  I think that's what God feels when He hears from us.  Call upon the name of the Lord, my friends -- He wants to hear from you!  Blind Bartimaeus called out, "Jesus Son of David, have mercy!"  And he was cured.  The Disciples, tossed about in the stormy sea, cried out, "Lord, save us!"  And He did.  "Call upon me in the day of trouble;  I will deliver you and you will honor me."  And He will!  Amen

Copyright © 2002 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.