Speak to Me Sunday: A Fool for God

Once Upon a Time, two elderly gentlemen knocked on our door. They were missionaries wanting to spread God’s word and were so polite, lovely really, that we shared a conversation. We spoke about God and faith and how the two are becoming increasingly pushed aside in culture and society. They had pamphlets, but I told them I was secure in my faith and to save them for others who might need them more. I thanked them for sharing God with others, we shook hands, and they left.

A few minutes later, I had an idea: I should have offered those nice gentlemen bottled water and snacks for the road! It was a thought that came out of nowhere and so I felt it was divinely inspired. It was not too late!

I gathered the items, packaged them nicely, and looked out the window. The gentlemen were no longer on our street. No problem! I grabbed my keys, jumped in the car, and drove around the entire neighborhood looking for them.

And I could not find them anywhere.

Okay, then. I drove back home a little deflated because things did not turn out as I imagined they would. And I was confused. Hadn’t I answered a spiritual prompting? Hadn’t I been obedient to the whispers of the Holy Spirit spurring me into action?

Apparently not. Truthfully, I felt a little more than a little foolish. This is not the first time I listened to the Holy Spirit, acted on it, only to arrive at a complete and total Dead End.

Had I been a fool for God?

I argued with myself. How does one know if a conviction, or a spiritual prompting, is valid unless acted upon? Does it not take faith to step forward when the outcome is unknown? And does it not take courage to act on something as tenuous as a thought, a feeling, or a spiritual prompting?

In the ways of the world, a “yes” to any of the above can be seen as foolish, but a fool by the world’s standards can be transformative by God’s.

Thinking back to that day with the missionaries, I came to realize that it did not matter my actions did not turn out the way I had imagined they would, that my good intentions fell flat.

Instead, what mattered was I felt a spiritual prompting, and on blind faith I acted.

And sometimes, it is the action (and not the result!) that is the point.