THE EVERLASTING ARMS

“The eternal God is your refuge,
and his everlasting arms are under you” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

A man’s daughter asked one of the local pastors to come and pray with her ill father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The young pastor assumed that the old man had been informed of his visit and had the chair brought in.

“I guess you were expecting me,” he said.

“No, who are you?” asked the father.

The pastor introduced himself and explained why he was there and then remarked, “I saw the empty chair and I thought you knew I was coming to visit.”

“Oh, the chair,” said the old man. “Would you mind closing the door?”

Puzzled, the pastor closed the bedroom door.

“I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man, “but all my life I have never known how to pray. At church I would hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head. I never understood how to do that, to pray.”

“About four years ago my best friend and I were talking about prayer and he said to me, ‘John, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Let me suggest this. Sit down in a chair, then put an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus sitting on the chair. This is not weird because Jesus promised that He would be with us always. Just speak to Him like you are talking to me right now.’”

“So, I tried it,” said the old man, “and I like it so much that I do it for a couple of hours every day. I’m careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she’d either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on his journey. Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and left.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.

“Did he die in peace?” the minister asked.

“Yes” she said. “When I left the house in the afternoon, Daddy called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I came back from grocery shopping about an hour later, I found him. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside his bed. What do you make of that?”

Choking back a sob, the pastor simply said, “I wish we could all go like that,” and then he told the daughter what her dad had told him about the empty chair.

Isn’t it fascinating how the use of an empty chair to visualize a conversation could revolutionize the old man’s prayer life? To learn to love to pray and to spend several hours a day praying is the mark of a changed man. The empty chair is not the reason for the change; the empty chair is where his Friend sat.

Friendship is defined as a relationship of trust, faith, concern and love for the other person.

In John 15:9-17 Jesus taught the disciples the importance and place of love. Jesus instructed the disciples to love each other as He loved them (vs.12). As a part of His teaching, Jesus made the following statement: “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15 NIV).

This was a powerful moment for the disciples because Jesus was offering them the gift of friendship. He didn’t have to make this offer; He did so because He loved them. His generosity in offering friendship was helping the disciples understand grace. They couldn’t earn friendship and they didn’t deserve it, but He offered it anyway because He loved them—and that’s grace.

The pharisaical legalists never do become friends of Jesus; they are too busy running around trying to meet all the demands of the law in the flesh. Legalists are always trying to be perfect and condemning others for their failures. They are trying to earn friendship when Jesus has given it as a gift. Friends receive the gift given in love and the love relationship is established.

Jesus says, “I have called you friends,” so why don’t we act like it? Let’s talk to Jesus as if He is actually a friend and not the recipient of a Tweet. Go ahead and visualize the empty chair and start talking to Him; if you are really burdened down, it’s okay to put your head over on the chair. He won’t mind at all; in fact, I think He will love it.