Naomi, December 2022

Naomi, my then 5 year old GRAND, and I were on the way to the pediatric ophthalmologist’s office where we were going to meet her mom. Naomi had an unusual rash around her eye and she was nervous!

As I drove the unfamiliar CA streets, and she was strapped in the car seat in the back, I was teaching her the truth of Psalm 56:3.

“When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.”

I was using different voices, difference cadences, even different actions — as much as you can act while driving. Naomi mimicked each one. By the time we arrived at the doctor’s office, she had Psalm 56:3 committed to memory.

For Naomi, the application was to not be afraid of the new doctor. By the time she left the appointment, the new doctor had diagnosed Shingles, AND had become Naomi’s new favorite doctor.

Fast forward five years.

Now I have Shingles.

As I was talking to Naomi on the phone last night, she said, “Gramma, I remember the Bible verse you taught me when I had Shingles”. And she quoted it to me. She didn’t remember the reference; she did remember the truth.

It was good for me to be reminded of Psalm 56:3. Although my application was different from Naomi’s, God’s word ministered to us both. (My application related to the after-effects of Shingles.)

Thank you to my 10 year old GRAND-daughter for ministering the Word of God to me!
I listened to God through the words of Naomi.

And then there was that old dead guy. Our pastor shared these words from Martin Luther in his

Martin Luther

sermon yesterday:

“But faith kills reason and slays the beast which the whole world
and all creatures cannot kill.
So Abraham killed it be faith in the Word of God…
Reason did not yield immediately, but it fought against faith in him,
judging it an absurd and impossible thing that Sarah,
now ninety years of age, should bear a son.
Thus faith wrestled with reason in Abraham,
but faith got the victory and finally killed and crucified reason …”
from Martin Luther’s Galatians Commentary

In last week’s post, I called it circumstances. Martin Luther, referring to the circumstance of Sarah being childless at 90 years of age, calls it reason. Truly it isn’t reasonable to think that a 90 year old woman would become pregnant and bear a son.

And reason puts up a hard fight with faith. My faith is challenged as I consider some of my current circumstances. I want my testimony to be,

Thus faith wrested with reason in Sue,
but faith got the victory and finally killed and crucified reason.

God graciously gave Abraham a visual of His promise, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them … So shall your offspring be. And he (Abram) believed the Lord, and he (the Lord) counted it to him as righteousness”. Genesis 15:5 and 6.

God offers us visuals too. Over, and over, and over again in the words of Scripture. For example …

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26

I am so glad my son has gotten me into bird watching!

So listening to God sometimes comes through the words of a 10 year old little girl. Or sometime through an old dead guy or my pastor who quoted him last Sunday.

My newest memory verse:

“So then, those who are of faith
are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”
Galatians 3:9

Listen, my word for 2023. Isaiah 55:3, my scripture for 2023.

Copyright: Sue Tell, Jan 2023