While we were safely at church this past Sunday, another incident was unfolding in another church in Pennsylvania (same time zone). A pastor in North Braddock just outside Pittsburgh was preaching on the topic, “The Enemies of God” when a man stepped out of the pews into the center isle just a few feet away from him, took the pose of an experienced gunman, pointed a handgun at the pastor and pulled the trigger. The entire saga was caught on livestream. For a moment, no one reacted. But what was expected as an inevitable end to the pastor’s life was a non- sequitur. To the gunman’s surprise, his weapon didn’t discharge. A brave deacon in the pews jumped up and wrestled the man down, and the pastor recovered enough from diving out of view to join in restraining him till the police arrived. It was only by God’s marvelous grace that the weapon could not discharge. When the police went to the gunman’s home, they discovered the body of his cousin whom he had just shot earlier that morning with the same revolver; a weapon that had been used to murder someone just hours earlier failed to discharge its second bullet. Here is another surprise. The man was unknown to anyone in the church, and when he was sufficiently subdued, the pastor had asked him why he had chosen to target the church. His answer was, “I don’t know. A thought came into my mind, and I was just doing what the thought says.”
As I pondered on the significance of what happened, I am reminded of two spiritual lessons. The first is the obvious observation of the presence of God’s enemies operating against His purposes and against His church. We may consign the actions of the gunman to mental health issues, but the thought of going to a church that he has never been at, in a location a good distance from where he lived, at a time of which he was unfamiliar to fire his second bullet at a pastor preaching on the character of our spiritual enemies doesn’t simply add up as a mental health coincidence. I am unsure if the pastor continued his message, but I’ll warrant that the illustration was unplanned for and palpable. Yet less obvious but even more apropos was God’s extreme intervention even before we ask, think or imagine. I doubt if the pre-service prayer included, “Lord, if someone is planning to shoot our pastor, please jam his weapon.” The efficacy of prayer doesn’t come from the appropriate words we say but on our trust in our beautiful Saviour. The Psalmist said, “Before a word is on my tongue, You know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4). Paul declares that the Spirit helps us in our weakness when we don’t know what to pray for by interceding on our behalf “with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). Know this: God doesn’t just act because we ask. That would be disastrous because our weaknesses determine that we don’t even know what to ask for! God often acts before we ask. He goes ahead of you (Isaiah 52:12 – worth looking up!), He knows the way we take (Job 23:10), and He works all things together according to His purpose (Romans 8:23). So next time you are afraid, trust Him. Next time you are confused, lean on Him. Next time you feel like you don’t know what to do, listen to Him. He has gone before you…before you ask.
(Posted May 9 ,2024)
