THAT’S HIM!

HIT ME INSTEAD!

One evening, a minister’s phone rang. It was a woman whom I had visited from time to time. She wasn’t a Christian; in fact she was very dubious about the whole business of Christianity – she couldn’t see what relevance someone who lived 2,000 years ago could possibly have to her today. I`d tried to tell her but got nowhere.

But here she was at the end of a `phone, and she had a problem. “My husband`s just come home and he`s threatening to HIT me” she said, “Can you help me”.

Now I knew her husband – a big man with red hair and a big temper – if he said he was going to HIT her then it was ten to one that he would, and it certainly wouldn’t be a love pat!.

Well, what would you have done in the circumstances. I was tempted to give her a few words of comfort, and put the phone down – run away from the whole situation – but I didn’t. “I`ll come as soon as I can” I said – and uttering a lot of short prayers like “Get me out of this, Lord”, I got in the car and drove round to see her.

When I got there I was confronted by an angry man – he looked at my dog collar and growled, “What do YOU want”. “Your wife rang me and said you were threatening to HIT her” I said. “So I am”, he said, “And what are YOU going to do about it”.

I gulped – and prayed – and then I spoke – “Hit ME instead” I said.

He came towards me with fire in his eyes, his fists bunched – I was scared stiff and wanted to run, and he could see it, but I looked him in the eye and prayed, and stood there.

He came up to me,looked at me again, and then turned away. “I won`t do it” he said – The woman was expecting me to be obliterated – but he didn’t do it to me, and he didn’t do it to HER – not then, or later.

Now, let`s get it straight. It wasn’t ME who said to that angry man, “HIT ME INSTEAD” – I really didn’t have it in me. I had been working out in my mind as I traveled the short distance to her house, what I could say to that poor woman`s husband – but I knew it was going to be all pious platitudes, and that it wouldn’t touch him.

In the end I`d come to an end of myself and had nothing to say, so that when I DID speak it wasn’t ME speaking, it was the Spirit of Jesus. It was the Spirit of Jesus who had promised to be always with me, and who had said to frightened, cowardly, men and women just like me, HOW HAPPY ARE YOU WHEN MEN PERSECUTE YOU FOR MY SAKE”.

And it was Jesus, not ME, who was saying to that angry man, “HIT ME INSTEAD”, just as it was Jesus who said, “Do not worry beforehand about what you are going to say; when the time comes say whatever is then given to you. For the words you speak will not be yours; they will come from the Holy Spirit”. It was TRUE.

That day that young woman SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME just what Christ had to do with her everyday life, how relevant He was to her today. She SAW for the first time what the Christian faith is all about, Jesus facing mankind`s anger, then and now – facing the way men and women hurt each other, and destroy each other, driven by a force within them they can`t control – and He says to them, “HIT ME INSTEAD”.

I thank God that I didn’t have to experience the consequences of those words I spoke “HIT ME INSTEAD” – but Jesus did.  THAT’S HIS WAY!   THAT’S HIM!

John 14:18

I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU COMFORTLESS: I WILL COME TO YOU.

Before I was saved there was times that I could not physically or spiritually come to the Lord. It has been during those times that the Lord has come to me.

I. When I have been PERSECUTED, he came to me.

A. (Deuteronomy 33:27) The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

II. When I have been deserted by FRIENDS, he came to me.

A. (Psalms 27:10) When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

III. When I have been POOR, he came to me.

A. (Psalms 34:6) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

IV. When I was in the STORM, he came to me.

A. (Mt 14:30) But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

B. (Mt 14:31) And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

V. When I have been SICK, he came to me.

A. (Psalms 41:3) The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

VI. When I have been TEMPTED, he came to me.

A. (2 Peter 2:9) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

VII. When I was in SIN, he came to me.

A. (Luke 19:10) For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

B. (Luke 15:5) And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

I am so glad that when I could not come to where he was that HE CAME TO ME!  THAT’S HIM!!!

THEREFORE BE YE ALSO READY:  FOR WHEN YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN COMETH!    Matthew 24:44

God bless you and your day!

Love and prayers!

Your Sister in Jesus Christ,  Nella Rhea Dudley Sammons