Every Saturday is devoted to sport in South Africa, and in most Westernized countries, with the exception of Israel, for obvious reasons. This poses a very real dilemma for me. I preach on Sundays, and though I could reasonably prepare ahead of time, and indulge my passion for watching sport on Saturdays, it never works out that way. God seems to tease me by waiting till the last minute before showing me what is on His heart for any particular Sunday. I am grateful that He no longer waits to inspire me until the moment I step behind a pulpit.
Let me explain.
For eighteen months, a good many years back, I had no inkling of what to preach until the very last moment. I am not exaggerating; this is undiluted truth. I have always been very diligent when it comes to preparing sermon material. I am so grateful to God for allowing me to preach that I feel it is only right to try my best to say what He wants me to say, and that means spending time in prayer. Out of nowhere, and for no apparent reason, God stopped speaking to me until the Sunday service began. When I say "speaking", I am using Christianese for "prompting me by impressing an idea on my mind that I feel reasonably sure was not my imagination rescuing me, but was really an inspiration that became clear in my mind, and which I was fairly sure came from God." Now do you understand why it is easier to say "God was speaking to me"?
To continue, God stopped speaking to me while I was preparing. I continued to pray, wait for inspiration, and do all the things I normally do. NOTHING. No matter how desperate my prayers became, I was either spiritually deaf or God was silent. The first time it happened I was terrified. I had told God once that I would never get up to preach without knowing it was what HE wanted me to say. On this awful Sunday I had no idea at all what He wanted, and to make matters worse, it was at the most intimidating church to preach in that I have encountered in thirty-five years of ministry. The senior pastor was always immaculately dressed, the services were immaculately run, and his staff usually wanted to know my sermon titles two months in advance, so that the tapes (it was that long ago) could be immaculately prepared with labels detailing my name and sermon title, all ready to be duplicated the moment I finished preaching. It was unheard of to announce that I didn't have a title. I was far too terrified to let on that I didn't have a sermon either.
I remember feeling desperate enough to fake an illness. When my younger brother and I were children I sometimes pretended to faint to stop him from getting a well-deserved beating. He had no sense of danger, and would push one or other of our parents into giving him a LOOK. That look clearly meant STOP THAT NOW. When he ignored the LOOK, he would get a verbal warning: THAT IS ENOUGH! DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID? He would be reckless enough to put his hand behind his ear, feigning deafness. That would be my signal to faint as a distraction. On this Sunday I remembered those "faints", but also remembered that my parents had never been fooled into believing them, and my acting abilities had not increased over the years. All I could do was to walk up to the pulpit after a vastly exaggerated introduction, and croak, "Let's pray!" At that precise moment the Holy Spirit "dropped" a fully formulated teaching into my mind with greater speed than an iPhone sends texts. My relief was indescribable. All I had to do was speak, because in that moment I understood the entirety of the message and was able to teach it exactly as if I had notes in front of me.
That was the beginning of an amazing time when God showed me during services what He wanted me to preach. Sometimes I would only be given a scripture, but as I began to speak the whole message became clear to me. Sometimes I would be shown the sermon during worship. It continued for eighteen months or so, until I really thought that this was how God was going to speak to me from then on. How wonderful of Him, I thought. I could be diligent in prayer, and joy of joys, Saturdays would be freed up to enjoy tennis or rugby or athletics or whatever was on offer. Then just as suddenly, it stopped. No sooner had I lost my fear of not having notes to preach from, than God began to speak again on Fridays and Saturdays. I had to get out my bible, my paper and pen, and all my study books, and get back into preparing notes. Just for fun, because He has a great sense of humour, God still does this occasionally. I am embarrassed to confess that when this happens I am slightly irked that I hadn't known ahead of time, because I wouldn't have wasted time trying to prepare the day before. Why God continues to use me is a mystery, but I am very grateful that He does.
So every Saturday I have the dilemma of preparing a sermon or watching sport. Today is no exception except that it was write a blog or watch the Sharks play rugby. For those who don't know, the Sharks is the best rugby team in South Africa, I support them, and they had a very important game today. Sadly, I didn't realise that the game was this evening, nor that my blog was due today. As I write this I don't know the score. I may not know the score in a rugby game, but I do know the score in life, and that is far more important. I know that God is a good God with a great sense of humour and a deep, enduring love for His children. I also know, because I have experienced it, that He will give us a LOOK when we need it. I have felt His tangible disapproval when I have got out of hand. This can be followed by a verbal reprimand, often a rebuke from someone I respect. Finally I know this: nothing in this world is worth holding onto if it means losing our fellowship with Him. I know that no rugby game can begin to compare with the relationship I have with God. So many people, very sadly, choose the rugby over God. I don't mean that literally. I mean that many many people will hold onto this world and all it has to offer, at the expense of giving their lives to God. Really, there is no dilemma! Take my word for it, and God bless you. And now I am going to check out the game which I recorded.
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