The manifest power of God in men’s lives is absolutely astounding!
Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 21, 24, 26, & 28 – And God said . . .
Connecting to yesterday’s Second Miler, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the rest of the story.” I had shared the story of Pastor Henry Hutchins. With no formal education, when he was born again as a teenager, he could neither read nor write. But in earnest prayer he had begged the Lord to teach him to read the Bible, and in dream, the Lord showed him how that would happen. But it took diligent searching of the Scriptures, word by word for days, until he found the one word the Lord had showed him. That word was “Philippi,” and its first use was in Matthew 16:13. When Henry saw that word, the Lord opened His understanding, and by a miracle of the Lord, he was able, from that moment forward to read the Bible. I have both watched and listened to him read the Scriptures. He read without hesitation. Basic English pronunciation flowed from his lips like a steady stream, uninterrupted. He could find chapter and verse as quickly as any person I’ve ever known. What God did that day was supernatural indeed.
Let’s take a look at the first verse Henry ever read. “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?“ Wow! Can you imagine, never having been able to read, and suddenly, the light of heaven turns on in your mind, and the first thing you read are these words? When he had opportunity to share this story with me, I was awed by the presence of the glory of God on him and through his eyes. That moment when his eyes were opened impacted and marked him indelibly for the rest of his life. And when I say he could read the Scriptures, I mean, he could read the Scriptures. He read with the eloquence and fluency of a college professor. Every word seemed to be clear and well-articulated. It was truly supernatural. But there’ more.
While he could read the Scriptures with tremendous clarity and accuracy, he still could not read his own name printed on a piece of paper. He could not read the words of the church songs in the hymn book. He was a master craftsman in the building trade, in both carpentry and masonry, but he could read his own contracts. My mother took care of his accounting books for many years. If he needed anything other than the Scriptures read, he came to her to read it to him. That still baffles my thinking. But it was a God-thing. God gave him precisely that for which he asked, and it served him well into his late 80’s. But when he would tell the story, that moment when the Lord showed him the word “Philippi,” and told him to find it in the Bible was, for him, a clearly profound “You talking to me?” moment.
Manna for Today – Genesis 1; Psalm 119:89; Proverbs 4:20-23; Mark 11:22-26; Romans 3:4
My Second Miler by Dr. Beechard Moorefield 