The Parable of the Homeless Helper.
The Parable of the Homeless Helper.
God most definitely desires to speak with us. The question is always, will we make the choices necessary to truly listen?
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There once was a woman who had no home.
Long days with little shelter had left her with nothing you’d think of as traditional beauty. Her hair was a mess, her skin dried out, and her clothes were tattered. She rarely bathed and had little opportunity to care for herself. Everything she owned sat safely stuffed in the green duffel-bag she lugged everywhere she went.
What she lacked in outward beauty, she more than made up for in deep concern for the good other people. This alone was no small miracle. Most in her unfortunate shoes would grow bitter, but somehow she grew more kind. Her own circumstances hadn’t hardened her to the good of others. Instead, she looked for every opportunity to serve those around her. She even came to be known in the community as, the Homeless Helper.
One cold and wet winter day, she noticed that the corner on which she usually stood asking for food, was covered in ice. Concerned it would cause constant crashes throughout the day, she took it upon herself to warn as many cars as she could. Grabbing a beat up piece of cardboard from her duffle, she made a sign:
Icy corner.
Use caution.
Please be careful.
She held her sign as high as she could in hopes of helping the many people driving by, to get where they were going in one piece. Despite her desperate attempts, there were four accidents that day.
The first was a man with such severe dyslexia, he couldn’t read the sign. He missed the warning, and due to his speed, lost control of his car when he hit the ice and smashed into a guardrail protecting the opposite side of the street. The police and paramedics came, the car was towed and the intersection was cleared.
Just a while later a woman drove barreling toward the corner. Unfortunately, she was so uncomfortable with the homeless helper’s appearance, that she avoided looking at her altogether. As a result, she missed the warning, lost control of her car and smashed into a the guardrail protecting the opposite side of the street. The police and paramedics came, the car was towed and the intersection was cleared.
Not even an hour later a third vehicle approached the corner. The driver was late for a meeting and running hot as a result. Even though he saw the sign, he held such deep resentment toward anyone telling him what to do, that he sped up in defiance of the homeless helper’s attempt to care. When he hit the ice, he lost control of his car and smashed into the guardrail protecting the opposite side of the street. The police and paramedics came, the car was towed and the intersection was cleared.
Finally, a woman approached driving too fast for even the best of conditions. She always felt stretched too thin and was once again in a hurry to pick up her kids from a school event. In her haste, she missed the sign altogether. Just like the others, she lost control of her car and smashed into the guardrail protecting the opposite side of the street. The police and paramedics came, the car was towed and the intersection was cleared.
That night, the homeless helper laid down to sleep beneath her makeshift shelter. She was thankful that a few people had seen her sign, took her warning to heart and slowed down. But she couldn’t help but feel burdened by those who had not.
UNPACKING THE PARABLE
This simple (and obviously fictitious) story provides insight into four reasons we are prone to miss the voice of God in our lives. The Homeless Helper is a picture of the heart of Jesus. He stands near, constantly trying to tell us how we can experience the fullness of life for which He created us. He warns, He comforts, and He instructs. Unfortunately, like the people in the story, many of us are prone to miss His message. So let’s talk about these four ways we miss God’s voice.
WE’VE NEVER LEARNED TO LISTEN.
The dyslexic man is a picture of those of us who have never learned to recognize God’s voice. We’re like young Samuel. God is speaking, but we simply haven’t been instructed how to discern what He's saying. We lack an Eli who can guide us into a clearer conversation with God. Without that help, we often struggle to cultivate a posture of listening and responding. Instead we walk through life believing God may speak to a super-spiritual few, but He certainly doesn’t speak to us.
Further complicating our recognition is that many of us have been told that God no longer speaks in the wide variety of ways we see in Scripture. He may speak through our Sunday sermons, or Bible studies, but outside that, He’s silent. Because we’ve been conditioned to only listen in these contexts, our ears are closed throughout the majority of our lives. As a result, we’re like the dyslexic man who lacked the ability to read the sign at all.
WE AVOID HIS VOICE.
The avoidant woman is a picture of those of us who feel some degree of discomfort with the intimacy that grows out of listening to the voice of God. We may live in fear of what God might ask of us. Maybe we know that much of what Jesus has to say is hard, so we avoid it in the name of ease. Maybe we have some unresolved trauma in our past that makes trust a challenge. Maybe the work of learning to sit and listen is too much, so we content ourselves to live off the second-hand experience of others. We’re content to hear what God is saying to them, but unwilling to do the work of listening for ourselves.
The reasons are infinite, but the result is the same: we avoid any environment in which there is any possibility of hearing God speak. It simply feels safer, easier, and more manageable to avoid His voice altogether. What we forfeit in relationship, we try to make up for with control.
WE HARDEN OUR HEARTS.
The defiant man is a picture of those of us that simply don’t want to hear the voice of God. Like the people of Israel, we may draw near with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him (Isaiah 29:13). At the center of this, is an overwhelming desire to be one’s own God. To date, I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who will openly admit this, but the fruit of many lives show the seed of it present. Since Eden, humanity has desired to shrug off the caring and compassionate oversight of God, in favor of being our own gods. We want to set our own agenda. We want to direct our own steps. We want to go our own way. As a result, we have no ears for anyone who will say anything to us other than that which we already want to hear.
This is may be especially present within western culture, particularly here in the U.S. As a nation we are obsessed with a sub-Christian version of freedom that refuses to submit to any voice that does not align with our own. As you survey much of what passes as modern Christianity, you find entire theological constructs built to insure that God’s own voice in His very Word will never conflict with our own. God forbid He challenge our political, social, or moral beliefs. Instead we simply shape a version of God’s voice that supports our own pre-existing convictions. This may again provide us with more momentary comfort and the mirage of control, but it also robs of us flourishing life and relationship with Jesus.
WE LIVE HURRIED LIVES.
The hurried woman who is running late to pick up her kids is a picture of those of us who miss God’s voice, because we live at a pace that won’t allow us to slow down and actually listen. In his excellent book, “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry,” John Mark Comer tells a story of Dallas Willard answering the question of a world-weary mega church pastor, in search of becoming the person he actually wanted to be. Willards laid our a simple, yet profound formula: “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” Corrie ten Boom shared Willard’s conviction writing, “If the devil can’t make you sin, he’ll make you busy.”
The hurried pace that has become normative in our lives is the enemy of all real relationship. Relationship takes time, presence, intention and margin. Relationship can’t thrive on the fly. It’s like a seed that must be put in the ground and then carefully tended if it’s to grow and bear fruit. Our relationship with God is no exception. If we’re to learn to listen, to become familiar with the creating, saving, and sustaining voice of God, we have to slow down and intentionally create this space.
CHOOSING TO RECOGNIZE HIS VOICE.
The shared remedy to each of these reasons we miss God’s voice can be boiled down to one thing:
Deliberate Choices.
Will we choose to learn to listen? Will we choose to lean in and embrace discomfort as inseparable from our discipleship? Will we choose to surrender our will to the bigger and better way of God? Will we slow down and learn to live at the pace of Jesus where we can practice "the unforced rhythms of grace” (Matthew 11:28-30 The Message). It’s all about Spirit-empowered choices.
God most definitely desires to speak with us. The question is always, will we make the choices necessary to truly listen?