Lord, Let Your Light Shine Upon Our Plans

One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 90, verses 16 through 17. It says: “Let your work appear to your servants and your glory to their children, and let the light of Jehovah, our God, be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes, establish the work of our hands...”

This psalm is very special to me, my brothers and sisters, because, on the one hand, what it presents is the prayer of a person who is asking God to bring his favor upon the plans that person has made for the future, those plans that person has laid out for their life. In this prayer, what the person is asking is for God to bring his blessing upon each one of them. You see, we are always accustomed to praying in a way that sounds more like this: Lord, bring me your plans; let what you want be done in my life.

And that is fine; it is fine to pray that way. But there are also times, my brothers and sisters, when we can bring the plans we have, the expectations we have, the desires we have, and sort of present them to the Lord as an offering and say, “Look, Lord, here I am bringing you these plans, these desires I have. I do not know whether these desires are completely right before you, but I hope they are. In my understanding, with the finite mind I have, I believe I am in line with your will, so I am bringing this to you, and I want you to bless it. I want you to bring favor upon it; may your light be upon these plans; may your grace, your favor, fall upon what I am planning, upon what I desire to do over the next 3, 6, or 9 months, or the next year. I want your light to shine upon this.”

I believe this is a very pertinent prayer for this season in which we find ourselves. Yes, a new year has already begun, and we are marching along. How many have faith and the expectation that something good is going to happen? That is what I believe. And how many also have the faith and expectation that some not-so-good things will come too? I have to be honest: if it is going to come, it will come. I do not want it to come, but if it is going to come, it will come.

How many of you are now thinking and praying, “Lord, if some trauma comes, if some situation arises, if the devil or someone else tries to trip me up, then give me the strength to get through it”? How many of you can think that way? We are all in the same boat.

I wanted to reflect on the following, my brothers and sisters: this is a time in which we are asking for God’s blessing upon our lives, upon our families, our jobs, our friendships, and everything we do. We ask God to continue covering all things—or at least I hope, as one of your pastors, that you are praying that way.

And, by the way, let me make an aside: today I want to speak to you, yes, as your pastor, but I am also speaking to you as a brother in Christ, as a friend, as a fellow traveler on this journey with you. So I am going to open my heart a little. We want God to bless those new journeys in our lives, those new stages we are going to face, along with everything they may bring, with everything that may come into our lives. Regardless of the scars with which we may emerge from this journey, we want God’s blessing to be upon us.

For many people, my brothers and sisters—and I have to acknowledge this—I was on vacation, and I just got back. As they say, I arrived at the airport, went home, picked up the dog, did some shopping, ate with the kids, came over, and arrived here. In my heart I was saying, “Lord, wow, there are so many things one would like to share...” And in my heart I was also reflecting because, during those vacation days, I was always keeping an eye on my email and receiving various notes from different people. Some wrote to me with good news; others wrote to me with news that was not very good, and you are just like... wow. And I had to acknowledge, “Lord, for many people this year is starting off on the right foot; it is starting well. But for other people, this year is beginning a little harshly, a little painfully.” And I do not know where you find yourself at this point. You may be split in two: on the one hand, your year started out extremely well, while on the other, the year is still sort of in neutral, skidding on the ice, and you do not know when it will melt so that you can take off one way or another.

But the point is, my brothers and sisters, that right now, here at this crucial point, this is where we can let God be the one who affirms us, let God be the one who directs every one of our steps in everything we are doing or are going to do. For some reason this morning—look at what happened to me—I came across the account of Moses, when he encountered God and God began calling him to go and deliver his people Israel from Egypt.

I know that all of us know this story, and what did Moses say when God told him, “I want you to go”? Moses said to him, “Oh, Lord, I have never been a man of ready speech, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant.” That phrase caught me; it grabbed me—let me say it properly—that phrase twisted me up, because Moses was not merely making the excuse that he did not know how to speak before hearing from God. Even after he heard God, he was still saying at that very moment, “Ah, still no. The burning bush has not changed my tongue; I still cannot speak.”

That was what he was saying. In other words, “Sorry, but... I’m not the guy. I am not the person you need to use. You made a mistake. Call someone else, a man or a woman.” Nevertheless, in the midst of that, God affirmed this man. God affirmed this man and said to him, “Come now, who gave man his mouth? Who can make a man mute or able to speak? Who can make a man blind or able to see? Who can make a man deaf or able to hear?” And let it be clear that this passage is not saying that God intentionally makes someone mute, but rather that God can intervene in either situation. He can make the mute person speak, and he can make the one who speaks speak better—or he can also make him mute when he does not say what he is supposed to say or when he talks too much.

So now you know: do not talk too much. A resolution for this new year: do not talk too much. Speak; say what you have to say; call bread bread and wine wine. But when you say it, say it carefully; please do not go saying things that wound hearts. The point is that here God is affirming this man.

And I began thinking about the different things that must have gone through Moses’ mind. How am I going to go back and face Pharaoh, who is, so to speak, my brother, because I grew up with him in the palace? How am I going to enter again a place where they are looking for me because I killed someone? How do you expect me to do such a thing? Nevertheless, God’s affirmation is there upon him: “Hey, do not worry; I am the one who is with you. I am the one who is going to help you speak. I am the one who is going to teach you what you must say. It is not you; it is I who will do it through you.”

Do these words not sound familiar, like when Jesus himself told his disciples, “Hey, when they bring you before the synagogue and the authorities, do not worry about preparing your speech ahead of time, because at that very moment the Spirit will let you know what you must say”?

I began thinking about this, my brothers and sisters, in light of this new vision God has inspired in our pastor for this church this year: a year of evangelism, my brothers and sisters. I tell you, evangelism—and I know it is crucial to the life of any church—but when people talk to me about evangelism, do not be surprised: my legs go weak; my knees tremble, because evangelism is not my strongest gift. Put me in front of a class to teach; put me here to preach. But if you put me out there on a street to do something, you are going to see a Pastor Omar you have never seen before. But mind you, I am not that bad; I can hold my own. Let me set the record straight: I can hold my own, but it is hard for me. I am not like other people who, within five minutes, have someone on their knees at a street corner, praying and accepting Christ.

But the point, my brothers and sisters, is that the challenge is there. Every one of us, every one of us—look, I am saying this very clearly—all of us face that challenge of becoming people who can evangelize, people who can communicate God’s love in a new, refreshing way that is relevant to the time in which we are living.

And for a time such as this, I believe God is telling us the same things he told Moses: “I am the one who puts words in your mouth; it is not you. You may spend an hour before talking to someone, thinking about what you are going to say, but when you get there, you will forget everything because then I am the one who will inspire you to speak to that person. Perhaps I will use one of the things you cooked up in your head, but I am the one who will give you the words that will truly reach their heart.”

You know what, my brothers and sisters? I want it to be that way. I do not want to rush out there to evangelize with words that I cooked up in my head, because if I do it that way, I will get nowhere. Today, if we want to see lives truly transformed by the power of God’s word, we need God himself to be the one who reaches those hearts. God himself is the one who must penetrate those minds that have already been manipulated by the mindset, ideologies, and philosophies of this world. Only God, with his power, can truly reach straight into the place of need.

In fact, there are times when, without our having to say anything, someone will come right up and say, “Look, I need you to do this for me, or to pray about this.” That coworker for whom you have been praying for a long time will suddenly, out of nowhere, say, “Look, Antonio, pray for me. I know that you are a man of God,” and that will leave Antonio dumbfounded. “I never thought this man would say that to me.” But there it is; it happens, because God is the one at work.

That is the kind of evangelism we need to see today, my brothers and sisters: evangelism directed personally by God. Yes, we are instruments like Moses. Moses was an instrument; Moses had his fears. You have your fears; I have my fears. But we are vessels of clay in the potter’s hands. The potter will use you however he wants to use you. Our responsibility is to discern how God wants to use us. What is God going to do through you, through me? How? When? Where? With whom? So that his grace and love may become evident in the hearts of those who need them.

With these words I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, because what I am saying does have to do with how God’s blessing, through you, can reach others. Nevertheless, I cannot overlook the fact that this same blessing will reach you too and that God wants to affirm you too.

How many of us struggle with who knows how many other things besides the ones Moses was struggling with? We regard ourselves as worthless; we think of ourselves, and it is like getting up in the morning, looking in the mirror, and saying, “Oh, goodness, I am... have mercy on me, please.” I do not know how many of you are like Snow White, looking into the mirror and saying, “Mirror, mirror, tell me, mirror...” I was at Disney; that is why I thought of Snow White.

But the point, my brothers and sisters, is that every time you look at yourself in that mirror and a rather low opinion of yourself enters your mind, God is there on the other side, looking at you and saying, “Ah, ah, you are not that. You are a person of great worth. You are someone whom others may be casting aside, but I am placing you at my side. That side toward which people are pushing you—that side is where I am, and that is where you are going to find me.”

Only God is capable of doing something like that and beginning to speak to your heart and affirm you. Where others may have failed to affirm you, God comes and affirms you. God takes it upon himself to find whatever way pleases him to let you know how much you are worth to him. Even if your eyes are blinded by the life experiences you have had, are having, or will have, God is present in the midst of all those things, letting you know how important you are to him.

Now, do not start thinking that because God says you are important to him, you are going to end up standing on a platform preaching to thousands of people. Do not think that. Do not get confused, because you will only become frustrated later. Because who knows? Perhaps the only thing God wants you to do is—actually, I am going to share this story. I do not know how many of you know Brother Miguel Pérez, our pastor’s son-in-law, who plays the guitar, Abigail’s husband, Caleb’s father—what else can I say? My friend, my soul brother.

He called me a few weeks ago and told me about an experience he had while he was at a restaurant, at a diner. He was having breakfast with his son, and suddenly, when he went to pay, the waitress who had served him said, “Don’t worry, because someone has already paid for you.” And he was like… Who paid for me? The gentleman who was sitting behind you. And when he realized that the man had left, he went out, found him in the parking lot, and went over to thank him. And the man said to him, “Don’t worry about it; do it for someone else.” The next day, he went to buy himself a coffee, and when he was about to order it, the person at the register said to him, “Don’t worry, the person who was ahead of you already paid for you.” And he was like… What is this? Twice already, two days in a row.

He told me that with such tremendous excitement, and I was left thinking. I said to myself, wow, what a beautiful way to truly reach someone’s heart. Can you imagine—or at least I have imagined—doing this? Let me give you this scenario, because this is something I might not do, but I think it would be a challenge. There is a Starbucks here on Tremont, heading toward the South End. I don’t know how many of you have seen it. It’s near your house, Annie. You know which one it is, right? I imagine you do; by now, your feet take you straight there.

At that Starbucks, obviously, many of us know that the area where it is located is the community of our homosexual brothers and all that. I often go there with Brother Elías, and we have coffee for breakfast, talk, and catch up. Whenever we go, we see this whole population coming in, and you feel a little strange; they look at you strangely too, because there are two men wearing their wedding rings, and sometimes they look at us as if to say, “Oh, how cute they look.” Father, God forbid, please.

But the thing is that while I was talking… It’s just that I can see some of your faces, and I can imagine you also imagining what I am imagining. But the point is that the story my brother Miguel shared made me think: Omar, what if one day you go to that Starbucks and pay for two people who are there? The first thing I thought when I said that to myself was, “I’m going to get into trouble, because then they’re going to think I’m hitting on them, and I don’t want to get myself into that kind of trouble. I might end up stirring up things I shouldn’t be stirring up.”

But the point was: what a way to evangelize in a community that we as a church know is a community that is against us. We can enter that community and begin doing acts of kindness for them, so that they can see that we are not their enemies, but that we are here to serve them too.

I know that we already do things like that. On Saturday mornings, when the men go out here to Albany Street, they distribute food to homeless people on the street. I know that we are already reaching out to people whom we ordinarily would not approach, but because the love of God moves us, we take action and do it. But that is a very particular population, just as this other example I am talking about is also a very particular population, one that needs a different kind of approach in order to reach their hearts.

In the same way, you can think about the different settings in which you move and about how God can use you to reach the heart of each of those people around you. What act of kindness can you perform that God can use to reach someone’s heart? Only God knows.

And my prayer is that God will reveal to you how you can reach that heart. Later I will talk about how we can do it. But for now, my brothers and sisters, I want to leave you with this: God wants to affirm your life; God wants to affirm your heart; God wants to let you know that he is counting on you. God wants to let you know that whatever plans you have ahead of you, no matter how far-reaching those plans may be or how near-term they may be, God wants to let you know that he is with you, that he will take care of opening doors in your favor, but just as he opens some, there will be others that he will close. You just have to watch for the signs the Lord gives you so that you know which way to go; you need to know how to listen and pay attention.

We do not know everything; we need him to guide us too. So I leave you with these words for now, my brothers and sisters. We will continue reflecting. God wants to affirm you. God wants to affirm your heart. God wants to affirm your walk. So do not think of yourself as insignificant, as someone who does not know how to speak or does not know how to think at all. God knows how he will equip you.

So let us stand, my brothers and sisters, and close this time together. Beloved God, we thank you. Thank you, Lord, because you are the God who looks at us through eyes so different from the eyes through which people may look at us. When your eyes focus on us, they give us a reason for being; they give us meaning, purpose, and incomparable worth. When your eyes look at us, they also place conviction in our hearts, Lord. And they help us align ourselves with you and tune in to you, Lord.

Father, I ask that through these words on which we are reflecting today, and those on which we may reflect in the days to come, your Holy Spirit would make known to us in every one of them the things you have in your heart for us, both as individuals and as members of this family of faith.

Teach us, Lord, to listen to you, to pay attention to the things you want us to pay attention to, and to have hearts that are open to you, sensitive to you, and teachable by you, Lord. Give us teachable hearts. I ask that in this new year, 2013, our hearts may become even more teachable, Jesus. You are that faithful friend who seeks us out, affirms us, comforts us, convicts us, and inspires us to keep moving forward.

So I pray for every one of my brothers and sisters—for those who are here, those who are watching us on the internet, and those who will watch us in the days to come. Lord, I ask that you, as the God who affirms us, continue to guide us on this new journey that 2013 may bring into our lives. As Psalm 90 rightly says, Lord, may your light shine upon our plans, Lord, and may you affirm and confirm every one of those plans, Lord, that we have fashioned in the light of your will, Lord.

I ask your blessing upon every one of my brothers and sisters, from the youngest to the oldest, Lord. Wherever they may find themselves on the journey of faith, I ask, Lord, that you would bring a good word, a word of affirmation, and a word of encouragement to each of their hearts. Over every man, every woman, every young person, and every family represented here, Lord, we declare your blessing upon each of them and upon this family of faith, Lion of Judah, where you have placed us. Lord, now more than ever, may you be the one affirming our heads, our foreheads, Lord, so that we may reach the communities around us in all their diversity, Lord. Whoever the person may be, wherever they may live, whatever their social or academic status may be—whoever they may be, Lord—help us reach those hearts for your honor and your glory, Lord.

We thank you for this evening, my God, and may you receive all the exaltation, my God; we owe everything to you. Take us safely to our homes, Lord. Keep us warm along the way, and tonight give us deep, restorative sleep so that you may renew our energy, Lord, and so that tomorrow, if you so permit, we may tackle everything the day may bring.

We thank you. In the name of your Son Jesus we pray, amen and amen. Brothers and sisters, blessings; greet one another in the love of the Lord. We will see one another on Sunday. Blessings.