Friday, September 12, 2014

H is for The Hairbrush Story


            Bible teacher, Beth Moore, tells a story about God prompting her to brush an old man’s long, matted hair, while they were in a crowded airport. She argued with God in her mind saying she would rather witness to him, tell him about Jesus and pray with him, than walk up to this total stranger and offer to brush his hair.
            The Lord can be very persuasive and she knew He did not want her to witness to the man. He wanted her to brush his hair.  She walked over to the man and leaned down to speak to him in his wheelchair. She asked quietly at first,
            “Sir, may I have the honor of brushing your hair?”
            “What?” he asked.
            She asked a little louder, knowing all the eyes in the airport were focused on her,
            “Sir, may I have the honor of brushing your hair?”
            Slightly frustrated he said, “Little lady, if you want me to hear you, you are going to have to speak up.”
            Finally, as loudly as she could, and blushing with embarrassment, she shouted,
            “SIR, MAY I HAVE THE HONOR OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?”
            “If you want to.” He replied.
            Her dilemma was she didn’t have a hairbrush with her. He pointed her to his bag in the back of his wheelchair. She walked behind his wheelchair, knelt down on the ground, unzipped his bag and carefully started pulling out his stuff until she found the old fashioned hairbrush.


            She put his stuff back, stood up, and started slowly and carefully brushing out his long tangled hair. As she was doing this, God gave her peace. She was no longer embarrassed and it seemed like no one else was in the room but the two of them. When she was finished his hair looked like shiny white silk. She put his hairbrush away and walked around to the front of the wheelchair. She knelt down and held his hands and asked him,
            “Do you know Jesus?”
            “Yes.” He said.   (Of course he did!)
Many years ago his wife would not marry him unless he knew Jesus, he explained.
            About that time the flight attendant came out to wheel him onto the airplane. When she walked back to Beth, with tears in her eyes, she asked,
            “What made you do that?”
            “Jesus.” She answered, “He is the bossiest thing.”

What is the point of the story?  
Humility.
            In order to grow in our walk with the Lord we need humility.  Beth humbled herself to do what the Lord wanted and to help an older man, who could not help himself.
            The Bible is full of verses on Humility.
Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.
Proverbs 11:2  When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
1 Peter 3:8   Finally, all of you, be like-minded, sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
            One of the reasons God has used Beth Moore as one of the powerful Bible teachers of our time is because of her humility.  The Bible says God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)
Humility is one of the keys to growing in our walk with God.

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