THE UNMISTAKABLE HAND OF GOD

Before I formed you in your mother's wound..I knew you.

I know the plans I have for you..plans to give you a hope and a future.says the Lord..

These words spoken to the  prophet Jeremiah by our Almighty God rang true in my spirit last night as I stood frozen in my living room watching the headline on CNN that Barack Obama had been declared President Elect of the Unites States of America.  I knew it would happen because the Lord had revealed to me several months ago that this was part of  His plan for radical change in America and the world.  Yet-just for a second..this loud, zealous on fire for the Lord preacher was speechless.

My 82-year old mother sat on my sofa and said repeatedly in her soft yet commanding voice." I am so glad I lived to see this".  This mother of mine, who grew up in the segregated south, cleaned and cooked for Whites, the daughter of a mother widowed when my mom was only 9 who washed and ironed shirts for Whites to earn a living for her family.  My grandmother had only a third grade education yet she worked hard and received Jesus early in her life and built  her life on faith and on the promise of the same God who spoke those words to the prophet Jeremiah. I heard my first cousin, (who was also with me) who at 68 is the oldest surviving member of my father's side of the family shout and cry and lovingly tell her own 86 year old  mother who lives in the same Georgia neighborhood of my family's roots, that she was overjoyed to share that moment with her "mommy".

I heard the calls from family in California, South Carolina, Kansas and read  text messages from across the country and felt the joy and hope and expectancy of change that is almost overwhelming.  The prophet Jeremiah delivered harsh warnings to the people of Israel in biblical times and lamented out of profound grief for his people, "Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no Savior there?.  Today we know that the balm is Jesus, the Hope is Jesus and change is only possible through Jesus.  President-elect  Obama, when asked by Pastor Rick Warren what he thought  about Jesus, responded, "I KNOW that I am redeemed by the blood of Jesus."  We have elected a president that is sure of his salvation and I realize that some of my fellow believers and clergy may disagree.  Yet, I KNOW what the Lord has revealed to me.  He takes what looks foolish to confound the wise.  A black man from a single parent home born in Hawaii, with roots in Kenya, time spent in Indonesia with a past that includes personal loss, isolation, confused identity, a stint experimenting with drugs..can somehow grow up to be president of the United States.  Can anyone recognize the redeeming hand of Jesus here? 

I know many evangelicals mourn this win because Obama supports a woman's right to choose and he believes that homosexuals should have the right to visit their loved ones and share property.  There have been analysis that say an Obama administration would muzzle me (and all preachers) in the pulpit and appoint judges that will legislate God out of the eye of America.   Yet these pundits forget that God is almighty and bigger than big and NO ONE can ever muzzle and extinguish HIM.  We must trust His sovereignty and understand that His plan for change is not always what we expect.  The Jewish people thought that the Messiah would save them from the hands of the Roman empire, yet Jesus came and saved all men from the hands of sin.  God is calling for radical change, He is calling us all to repentance and he will use this moment in history to get us to cease our limited thinking and trust Him to work in us and through us for His will to be done.  Let us begin  to pray and ask God to show us how we can move according to His will in this season of hope and change.  None of us can afford to miss God in this hour.  He is speaking and He is moving.

Whether you woke up this morning feeling joy or sorrow..wake up and understand that each of us has a responsibility in the plan of God. I am grateful that my mother lived to see this, sorry my Dad and grandmother did not, but elated that my first grandchild will come into a world where being president is a possibility for anyone, whether  they are black, female, Latino, Asian, Jewish...or were raised in poverty, a single parent home or with less than a stellar past.  With God all things are possible..so let's get busy, let's unify and organize our churches, win souls for Christ, teach others how to live God-centered lives and live out the purpose for which they were created. 

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY, FOR THE GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!!!!

 

Pastor Debra Garner