Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.
Philippians 2:12-15 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
COVID 19 has been a thorn in the side of the world. If we watch the news, all that we hear are the terrible things related to this virus. The virus is malicious, and the media is evil. COVID 19 attacks without warning and lives are still being lost. But even in the midst of the storm, God is still working behind the scenes. I met a gentleman early last year. He and his wife were very pleasant people. He was looking forward to his retirement from a company in which he had worked as a logistics man for much of his life. Last week, I learned that this gentleman had died from complications of the COVID 19 virus. I was saddened. My first thought was, “He worked hard his whole life so that he could retire, and as soon as he retired COVID stole his life away.” I bought a sympathy card to send to his wife, and I prayed that Christ would bring comfort to her.
Well, that is not the end of the story. Christ not only brought comfort to the wife. Through her, he brought comfort to me, and this man, even in death, is feeding thousands of hungry people. I saw his wife yesterday, and I greeted her with a great big hug. (I know you aren’t supposed to hug in a COVID pandemic, but we have both recently recovered from COVID so I think a hug was not only okay but well warranted.) She cried a bit, but she did not seem defeated or depressed regarding the death of her lifelong spouse. Instead, she told me of what great things this man did in the two weeks of retirement just prior to contracting the virus. I mentioned that he was a logistics man. I didn’t really know what that meant, but his wife explained to me that he was in charge of placing orders for large deliveries of food and supplies to military bases and large organizations. It had come to his attention that thousands of people were hungry due to the pandemic. People were without food and lacked resources due to the pandemic to aquire food. He and his sister decided to form a partnership to feed the hungry in the southeast United States. They partnered with a woman who prior to joining forces was feeding 25 families a week with 25 bags of groceries.
This man got on the phone and began calling suppliers. He reminded them that they would need a tax write off for the year, and suggested that they send stockpiled goods as a donation to feed hungry people and use the donation as a tax write off. Those suppliers agreed. He then called trucking companies and arranged for donated transportation to deliver these supplies at no cost. Within two weeks, the twenty five bags of groceries per week turned into literally tons of food in a warehouse that was soon being delivered to North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Thousands of people are now being fed through churches across the entire southeast thanks to this man’s desire to feed the hungry.
The man’s sister was distressed about his death. She had not only lost her brother, the lead logistics man in their new venture to feed the hungry was gone. The newly formed team still wanted to supply the food, but they didn’t know the suppliers or how to do the logistics of it all. But God…Oh BUT GOD! Turns out, this man’s co-worker is about to retire this month. She worked right under this gentleman, and she actually wrote all of the contracts with the suppliers. She agreed to join the team and handle the logistics.
I have to tell you that I greeted the grieving wife with great sadness, but I left our visit in awe. God never stops amazing me, Peeps! Consider for a moment how God worked out every single detail in just two short weeks to make sure that thousands of hungry people were fed. He took a freshly retired man, placed a yearning in his heart to feed the hungry, put everything in order to make it all happen, and He made all of this happen in a mere two short weeks prior to the man getting sick and dying from the same virus that caused the hunger situation in the first place.
Wow! Isn’t God great, y’all? My friend deserves a great big round of applause, but I know that none of that would have been possible without God working diligently behind the scenes to make it happen. Our God knew what was going to happen. He knew that this gentleman would soon be called home. He didn’t allow this project to take off only to see it fail. He already had the next logistics person lined up and ready to continue the efforts of my friend.
You may not see God. You may not realize that He is at work, but I am here to shout from the rooftops that our God, the God I serve, is constantly working behind the scenes for my good and His glory. He takes care of the tiny details. He opens doors that need to be opened, and He closes doors that need to be closed. He uses young healthy people, and He uses those who are nearing the end of their earthly days. He uses those willing to serve Him to accomplish much for the Kingdom. God places a yearning in our hearts to do things. The things may be little or they may be big, and we may think that there is no way that we can accomplish those things, but God can. God will. If you submit fully to Him, you can move mountains. Allow God to work behind the scenes in your life, and I guarantee you that you will see great things happen. But don’t put Him on the back burner, and ask Him to only be a behind the scenes kind of God. Allow Him to be the God of your life! Let Christ be the ruler of your heart. You won’t ever regret it! God is so very good!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 