Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14 ESV)
Dispatch – to send someone or something quickly to a place for a specific purpose
I have a friend who has struggled with serious emotional and mental health issues in the last year. He’s had different types of prayer, counseling, and medical interventions, but the thoughts of self-harm never quite go away. He and his wife have fought this difficult battle, trying various interventions to no avail. A couple of weeks ago, she decided to go get a rare manicure, and happened to mention his struggles to her technician. Imagine her surprise when the technician said she had had the exact same troubles! The manicurist told the wife about a new treatment option that helps rebalance the body’s physiology so that the emotional and mental health can stabilize. After brief research and consultation with knowledgeable medical personnel, he has received two treatments for this condition, and seems to be stable.
The wife decided that the manicurist’s information had to be a dispatch from God.
God doesn’t always speak like we expect, but he does speak. And sometimes he can send messages through very unexpected messengers – like a nail technician.
A long time ago a young woman with very young children joined our homeschool co-op. She didn’t stay in co-op very long, but she did connect with one of the deep, sweet mamas there who had children about the same age. At the time – and for some time afterwards – the first mom was not a believer in Jesus and, truthfully, told the second mom not to push or try to convert her. Instead, the second mom just kept in touch, befriending her, loving on her, encouraging her, and blessing her. Over the course of over a decade, this friendship helped to show the first mom what God’s love looked like and, with help from others, the first mom eventually came to faith, was baptized, and now is faithful in her local church.
The second mom was a dispatch from God for the first woman’s life.
God uses patient people, who quietly and gently love people and continually invite them into faith.
God sent both these messengers to a specific place so that he could deliver a message. Whether it was a message about a new medical treatment, or a message about how much God loves us, both messages were hugely important.
Several times in the Bible we read of messengers who were sending an important communication – Nehemiah was commissioned to rebuild (Nehemiah 2:5), Peter was sent for (Acts 10:5), and Gideon sent messengers to deliver orders (Judges 7:24). Haman’s original edicts to kill the Jews were dispatched the same way Esther’s forthcoming edicts to fight back were communicated.
In all these, the messages were important to the story.
God’s messages are still important to our story today.
What kind of a messenger are you? And what kind of dispatch is God asking you to give to someone?
Lord God,
Open our ears and help us to listen to your Voice within and around us. Help us to discern when and where and what to say. May we be messengers – people who bring good news, proclaim peace, bring good tidings, proclaim salvation, and show that You reign! AMEN.
How beautiful on the mountains
are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7 NIV)