Human Vending Machines

 February 24, 2022

We were served by a pleasant young man with an easy smile and warm demeanor. He was the perfect waiter; solicitous without being intrusive, and we ate our dinner thankfully. Towards the end, he asked if we would like dessert. We normally don’t indulge in dessert, but when I told him it was my wife’s birthday, he insisted that it was on the house. So we ordered.

We had gift cards, so the meal really didn’t cost us anything. We paid, left a generous tip before asking the question. “You have blessed us with your service, and we would like to bless you in return. Is there anything you’d like us to pray about for you?”

The smile vanished as he said, “I can’t believe you’re asking this. This has been the worst day of my life!” He proceeded to tell us how he “really f—ked up,” telling us in outline form what he had done and the consequences he feared would come his way. He welcomed our prayers before going back to work.

I don’t know what will happen to him. He’s really scared. I hope our prayers can become an avenue through which God works the miracle of salvation in his life. One thing I know—we never know just by looking at someone what they’re going through. The only way we learn is by asking. Not everyone is receptive to our praying for them, but those who are unwittingly put themselves in the crosshairs of God’s Spirit. 

One of my most frequent prayers is for God to open my eyes to the people around me, and my mouth to speak his Name. I take my cue from Jesus himself, as recorded in John’s gospel, chapter four. Jesus was sitting by a well in the noonday heat when a woman approached to draw water. He noticed. 

Noontime was not the normal time women gathered at the well; that was an evening task, when the heat had dissipated somewhat. Jesus noticed, and struck up a conversation with her that resulted in her running back into town with the news that she had been speaking to Someone who knew her better than she knew herself. Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples were returning from the village where they had gone to buy lunch.

They were puzzled that he wasn’t hungry. After all, they had been walking all morning in the growing heat of the day. When they asked him about it, he told them he had food they about which knew nothing, and as they talked, the townspeople, responding to the witness of this woman, were streaming down the road to see for themselves this unusual Man.

Jesus told his disciples that “the fields are ripe, ready for harvest,” but they remained puzzled because they went into town looking only for lunch; Jesus saw those same people in a different light. They weren’t to him mere human vending machines. They were people loved by his Heavenly Father and sought by Jesus himself. 

I regularly pray for Jesus to open my eyes to see people, not for what they can do for me, but for who they are in his sight. Whether it is a waiter, a girl at the supermarket checkout, or someone I casually meet on the street, it is easy to see people for what they can do for us. “It’s business,” we rationalize, and we don’t have time to plumb the depths of every human heart we meet. But I shudder to think of the opportunities I’ve missed and the hurting people I’ve never prayed for simply because I wasn’t looking deeply enough, beneath the smiles or frowns, to see the hurting heart needing the touch of God. 

Tonight Linda and I will again pray for our young waiter. Hopefully, when we go back for my eye checkup in a couple weeks, we’ll be able to stop in and find out how things have been working out for him. We are praying for a miracle even bigger than the solution to the problem he sees. God opened my mouth and my eyes for him. Now, may God open this young man’s heart to the grace and forgiveness he seeks and needs.