What bothers you? What gets under your skin and rankles you? No doubt, there could be a sliding scale of things that bug you: from stuff that’s minorly inconvenient to situations that are massively disturbing. For me, I get cranky with people who drive slowly in the fast lane – the left lane is for passing, not sightseeing. In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor inconvenience. On the other end of the scale, I’m deeply disturbed by starving, abused and neglected babies. I’m also impacted to the core of my essence from authentically engaging with the Bible and various verses that God accentuates to me.
So what really bugs you? It’s important to think about this because stuff that really bothers us could relate to something God wants changed. This has been circulating in my thoughts as I recently started reading the book of Nehemiah. Consider what happens in Nehemiah 1:3-4, “They [Nehemiah’s friends] said to me, “The remnant there in the province [Israel] who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire. When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”
Nehemiah was deeply disturbed when he learned about the wholly ruined condition of Jerusalem – broken down walls, burned gates and general mayhem. When Nehemiah heard about all this, he became thoroughly unraveled for many days and made a really strong prayer to God, asking for forgiveness and a divine intervention to reverse the condition of Jerusalem. After Nehemiah’s prayer, when he was serving the King of Persia one day, the King noticed his saddened face and asked why he was distraught.
In reply, Nehemiah explained that he was really upset because of the total devastated condition of Jerusalem. The King asked what Nehemiah’s wanted to request and from then on, the book is about Nehemiah returning to Jerusalem, assessing the needs in the city and doing his level best to return Jerusalem to a better and more safe condition.
The news of Jerusalem’s wholly broken state was deeply disturbing to Nehemiah, so much that he did something about it. His angst was motivation to participate in God’s will and plan for Jerusalem.
In a similar way, the experiences I’ve had with dying babies, toddlers exposed to a very high risk of being molested, neglected infants, mothers who die in childbirth and newborns who never survive past twenty-days, all of these things have been deeply impactful to me. They fuel my passion for Saving Moses.
I have also experienced overwhelming emotions in reading various Bible verses and passages, so much that I write books and blogs, create YouTube series, do TV programs and trumpet messages that God puts on my heart. To this end, my daughter and I are in the thick of writing a trilogy of books around three of Jesus’ most famous parables. My writing for these books comes from very deep and powerful experiences I’ve had with God from ingesting these parables.
So back to my original questions for you: What bothers you? What gets under your skin and rankles you? Consider that something which is deeply disturbing to you might be a divine invitation to engage in that space and let God work transformation and redemption through you!
