OM DENNE EPISODE
In late January 1956, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr received a threatening telephone call at his house. It was not the first foreboding message he’d received. But on this night, as his children and his wife lay sleeping, the weight of the Civil Rights Movement was too heavy. He decided that the risk was too great. He began to map out an exit strategy. At midnight he bowed over the kitchen table and began to pray, ‘I am afraid. The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I’ve come to the point where I can’t face it alone.’ King described what happened next. ‘I experienced the presence of the Divine as I have never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: “Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.”’ When facing a daunting challenge, Dr King shifted his focus and turned to God. The Bible says: ‘When Joshua was by Jericho…he lifted his eyes…and behold, a Man stood opposite him.’ After Joshua lifted his eyes from Jericho, a divine messenger stood before him with the solution to his problem. As long as your eyes are only on your problem, you won’t see your problem solver. You must look up. ‘I will lift up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD’ (Psalm 121:1-2 NKJV).
© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.
