In the ambience of a cozy winter cottage complete with the comforts of a blanket of snow and coffee to warm her, a servant of the Lord sat listening to Karen Cheong teach through the book of Hosea. The servant girl had read the book several times before, which always left her awestruck and amazed at Hosea’s radical obedience. The prophet was told to marry a prostitute knowing that she would be unfaithful to him and probably have kids by other men. This continually left her confessing, “God, that must have been extremely hard and excruciatingly painful for Hosea. I know things were different then, but still, as much as I love you, I am not sure that I could do that. You’d have to help me and give me great strength to do so…” Yet, Hosea did love the Lord enough; he was faithful to submit to his God.
Little did the servant girl know that God would soon be asking her to take a radical step of faith as well, albeit, to a much lesser extent.
Karen began to speak about God’s character as opposed to those of Hosea or his wife, the whore who constantly left him for other men. It was as she talked about God radically, relentlessly, and yes, even romantically (Hosea 2:14-23) pursuing us (Hosea 11) despite the fact that WE ARE ALL WHORES, that the Holy Spirit began to move. “The Bible uses that language, so don’t look at me like that!” exclaimed Karen. Then, in her unique way of lovingly pursuing others’ hearts she took off her glasses and gazed into our eyes to ask the most difficult question, “What is it that you are whoring after?”
Jaws dropped as we sat there stunned. The silent debates were defiantly screaming back at her, “Excuse me, Karen. We are not the whores! Did you not know that we are the ones who go out searching for the whores? You must not have done a thorough job of preparing for this speech if you don’t even know that…”
Nevertheless, Karen continued to hammer out those heart probing questions: “What is it that you have been working so hard for? What is your “if only…”? What is it that you think is going to make you happy at last?” And after a long pause, Karen said with a smile, “Mhmm. You know what it is. You are trying to justify it right now.”
BAAAM! Road kill! That’s when the Holy Spirit smashed into the servant girl’s heart and confirmed what she was trying to deny, “Yes, you dear. You have been playing the harlot too. You toiled long hours all winter for your idol. Every time others asked what you wanted for Christmas you were almost giddy with the prospect of possibly being able to have numerous replicas of your idol. You wasted countless hours searching all over town and even drove to a different city to look for the best of the best to fall in love with. But did you find what you were searching for? Could you find the short lived satisfaction?”
Ashamed, the girl looked away from Karen’s piercing and all-knowing probe. But God did not relent. “I want you to take the money that you have been hoarding for your “precious,” and use it to bring glory to my name. It is for MY name’s sake that you were created. I want you to throw a Wedding Feast for the entire family of the girl you promised to take out for her birthday.”
The servant’s mind was reeling and her heart was racing as she began to process what God was asking of her. God brought to her mind the parables of the wedding feast and banquet in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke along with the Lamb’s marriage feast in Revelation. “Ok, God. So that means instead of bringing one person out to an expensive, waterfront restaurant that I can’t really afford, you want me to bring at least the seven other people in her family, along with the other people that they are sure to invite as well? And your version of a wedding is one in which the host actually gives presents to the guests instead of receiving them? And you want me to make this happen in less than a week?”
After momentarily staring out the window at the beauty of the gently falling snow, the servant girl took a deep breath, and said, “Ok God. (Deep exhalation of breath.) May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, although whatever you think I can muster up is sure be an atrocity in heaven’s sight. I’m just saying, Dad. You know I’m an idiot right? You know that I am probably going to mess this up for you, huh? Just so we’re on the same page here. Okay, I’ll stop making half-hearted excuses and shut up now!” And off into her own wonderful world with God she went, rapidly filling up her Hosea handout as she tried to keep up with the thoughts He was dictating to help her prepare this feast.
With less than six days to prepare, the servant girl ordered a wedding cake, invited a couple of friends from Scarlet Hope, and purchased gifts. Two days before the feast was supposed to happen, she was finally able to contact the family to ask if they could all come. She kept saying to herself, “Lord, you commanded me to do this, so I know they will be there.” In her weaker moments of doubt, she consoled herself with the thought, “Even if this turns out to be a lesson for me to learn on obedience and to quit whoring after things of the world so God can be my Ultimate Provider, then I must be content and rejoice in that outcome.” Every time she would think of skipping out on something or trying to be cheap, God would chide, “With the same measure that you use, my dear.” She knew what He was talking about.
Saturday: the day of the feast.
Instead of the sophisticated wedding feast that servant girl of the Lord had originally set out to plan, her heart kept shouting, “LET THE PARTY BEGIN!!!” And that is precisely what happened. The host showed up late with a wedding cake in a bent, makeshift box. People were running around the restaurant with balloon animals on their heads while screaming. Birthday shout-outs rang through the crowded atmosphere. An artist sat drawing caricatures at the entrance door. A man blowing up balloons posed near her. The guests were laughing and being lavishly loved on in a way that only the Greatest Father could provide.
She’d thought of so many details, such as, “The cake should be red with white icing so we can talk about how Jesus’ blood washed us white as snow.” She’d prepared a speech and lesson for nearly everything in a similar manner, but as she looked around at “The Lord’s Banquet Table” and watched the smiling faces of the people she loved, she knew that the feast spoke of God’s love for them without saying a word.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” – Revelation 19:9
So it continues to be that our Great God is working not only in the lives of the men, women, and children that Scarlet Hope serves, but He continues to press into the servants’ hearts as well.
The family that God prepared a feast for has been with Scarlet Hope for nearly two years now. The team is continually amazed at the transformation that God is doing in their lives. This family has endured excruciating heartache and countless hard trials. In the latter part of last year alone, their house and only vehicle was shot at and damaged. Yet, the faithful women of Scarlet Hope would take numerous vehicles to pick up the family and their friends to continue to encourage them, and let them know that God is going to make a way for them.
Shortly after that, their house caught on fire, causing them to lose everything. The oldest child, who was eleven at the time, bravely ran back into the house while it was on fire to make sure he got all of the children out. Again, the volunteers of Scarlet Hope were there to encourage and love on these children, especially K, who is still most likely battling with some Post Traumatic Stress.
The fire forced the family to shuffle between six other families until they could relocate into their new home. Finally, after much prayer, this precious family settled into their new home on March 3, 2013. Each day since then, members of Scarlet Hope have been there to help the family settle in, whether that has been to clean or help with groceries, blowing up air mattresses, or most importantly, reading the Word of God to them.
When one of the Art Therapy volunteers asked K’s twin sister what she thought of God after the fire, she said, “I am thankful, because we live in a nice place; now my mom doesn’t have to work so much. Yesterday (March 4, 2013) was the first time that I haven’t fallen asleep in class in months.”
God is making all things new for this family. He is making beauty out of ashes. Since the beginning of this year alone, God made a way for the family to have a dinner out together for the first time since the fire. He helped the family find an inexpensive and reliable mechanic to fix their van so they can all travel to Scarlet Hope for Thursday night’s Bible study. He gave them a house that is not in the ghetto, where they are already starting to become friends with their neighbors.
Hear the words of David from Psalm 40:1-3, words that God is most certainly declaring over this precious family even now: “I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the LORD and put their trust in him.” I think that it is safe to say that God has declared these words over this family as well.
