The Thumb Print of God — The Day My Sister Died

It is an amazing promise.  Romans 8:28 reads:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

If you and I are servants of the most high God, if we are servants of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, if we are born-again, then everything will work to our good, for even “Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Corinthians 15:54).

This feature is being written in May of 2008.  Presently, the world is being clubbed by the oil industry.  Just a handful of years ago, a barrel of crude oil sold for $10; now it has exceeded $130.  Nearly every human on the earth is being affected by this unprecedented 1300% increase.  Obviously, it affects gas prices, but also extends to home-heating fuel, the cost of food, manufacturing, shipping, and on and on.  End users—you and I—must pay for it.  The entire earth is being bilked by the world’s oil producers, and of special note is the Arabs’ OPEC cartel.

In the midst of this global financial assault, it may be hard to see how it is working to the believers’ good, but look again.  The world’s haters of the seed of Abraham are amassing wealth in what appears to be a miraculous way.  Will this wealth cause Armageddon to draw nearer?  At Armageddon, all the nations of the world will surround the Jews in Israel to once and for all attempt to wipe them off the face of the earth.  The leader of Iran has openly espoused such hatred and believes he is destined to usher in Armageddon.  The great wealth being amassed by the haters of Israel could enable them to secure the world’s most sophisticated weaponry, to purchase the greatest war minds, and to buy favor with other nations in an attempt to fulfill their quest for the utter destruction of the Hebrew people.

Armageddon is one of the five very worst days for the world and carnaldom, but one of the seven very best days for the blood-bought.  Armageddon is where antichrist armies of the world are destroyed, Satan is cast into the bottomless pit, and the righteous begin a reign with Christ for a thousand years.  Even high gas prices work to our good.  For more info on this subject, click onto the Twenty-One Signs of Doomsday Series.

Dear visitor, have you made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life?  Are you ready to meet Jesus Christ in the clouds as He returns for the church?  Today is your day of salvation.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for instruction to find immediate entry into the Kingdom of God—where everything will work to your good.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Psalms 37:23:

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 46:9-10:

9  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

MAN SAID: Proof—I want proof that there is a God and that He is the God of the Bible.  Prove it!

Now THE RECORD.  Those clamoring for proof typically aren’t interested in proof.  They feel safe and insulated in what they think is an impossible challenge, allowing them to remain comfortable in their unbelief.  This website is dedicated to the defense and confirmation of the Word of God.  Presently there are 379 feature articles on GodSaidManSaid that certify the veracity of the Holy Bible.  Every Thursday, God willing, this number grows by one.  Ancient history says yes.  Archaeology says yes.  Paleontology says yes.  Geology says yes.  Mathematics says yes, as well as sundry other sciences and general human experiences.

There is a proof however that soundly dominates all others.  It is a proof that is fully spiritual and supernatural.  Often in discussion someone will say, “You’re speaking spiritually, right?”  In many cases, this question makes one think that “spiritual” is a place inferior to that of the physical.  The raw reality is that the spiritual position is superior.  God—a spirit—created heaven and earth—a physical place.  Spiritual always precedes physical.  Consequently, personal spiritual proof dominates all others.  Romans 8:16:

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

The redeemed know they are the children of God because of a superior, spiritual proof—a proof that is spiritually discerned.

There is a miraculous seal of endorsement that God employs.  Let us call it the “thumb-print of God.”  This thumb-print of the Almighty, the one who knows the end from the beginning, is displayed in His very personal intervention in the daily lives of men.  God’s detractors vociferously object, claiming there is no God.  They say that if one exists, He is far off and does not interfere in the lives of men.  Yet from the very beginning, the very first page, the very first verse, the Word of God says otherwise.

This miraculous seal, this supernatural thumb-print, is usually called “coincidence” by those of the carnal world; it helps to protect their unbelief.  But the believer sees and rejoices in God’s personal attention in the affairs of men, and in particular his own personal life, which is his own personal proof that God is.

The passage in Psalms 37:23, which is noted in the lead of this feature, reads, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD:...”  If we have repented of our sins and surrendered our lives to Christ Jesus, whose name is The Word of God, then we are the “good man,” and our steps will be directed by God in the most literal way.  The second passage noted was in Isaiah 46.  It declares that God knows “...the end from the beginning,...”  I have seen the demonstration of these two magnificent principles play out in my own life, the life of my immediate family, and fellow Christians sundry times—God’s very thumb-print, His personal seal.  This demonstration could not have been more dramatic than in the very recent, untimely and unexpected death of my Godly sister Dede Hayes.  Seeing God’s mighty hand in her life, in her death, and in the proceedings that followed, was very beautiful indeed.  What a magnificent realization—that in a time of trouble—in particular, my family’s time of grief and sorrow—God was there to show Himself strong in such an intimate and personal way.  Psalms 46:1-3:

1 ...God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3  Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Dede and her husband Stuart, a fine, mighty man of God, who had passed away ten years before her, played an important role in the development of my wife’s and my Christian walk.  They were a true example of a Christ-centered family, and through their ministry affected the lives of many thousands.  This feature article is a tribute to their Christ-like lives.  This feature will also demonstrate supernatural, personal proof that God “is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

This website proves God’s Word using four different avenues of investigation.  One in particular is prophecy.  Bible prophecy establishes the supernatural origin of the scriptures.  This is when God tells the end from the beginning.  With Biblical prophecy, we couple the laws of probability.  For instance, what are the chances a man would have made a certain prediction hundreds, or even thousands, of years in advance, and have it actually come to pass?  The prediction also must be certified by ancient secular history, science, or today’s daily newspaper.  We select a Bible prophecy, and by harnessing the mathematical laws of probability, establish the odds of a mere man making such a prediction and see it come to pass.  In this example, let’s suppose the odds are one chance in five billion that a mere man could have declared the prophecy.  It would then follow that the odds were also 4,999,999,999 out of 5,000,000,000 that it was God.  This computes to a .99999 certainty out of 1, that a supernatural God, who knows the end from the beginning, made the prophecy.

On the day my sister died, and the days following and leading up to it, there were 11 glorious things that happened in my life that demonstrated the thumb-print of a loving God.  I should also note that many others experienced the same demonstration of God’s supernatural seal in various other ways.  Following is a list of the 11:

1. About a year before my sister’s death, God had given me a message to preach from Hebrews 12 concerning the City of God.  The odds that I would preach from that chapter, giving each chapter in the Bible equal weight, are one chance in 1,189.

2. Several days after preaching about the city of God, while driving home, my wife called me on the car phone.  She needed me to stop at the store.  One chance in five.

3. I randomly tore a piece of paper from my preaching notes that I had placed in my Bible.  On the blank side of the sheet I wrote down the items.  One chance in 20.

4. After purchasing the items at the store, I put my shopping list into the pocket of my suit, a navy blue one that I seldom wear.  One chance in 15.

5. The day my sister died, I put on the same seldom-worn dark blue suit.  One chance in 15.

6. In my pocket was the same slip of paper with the grocery list.  But on the back side was part of a scripture verse from the sermon from Hebrews 12 that God had given me a year earlier.  Verse 22 reads:

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God,...

In my pocket on the piece of paper, I had the phone number that my sister would no longer answer.  But, in my pocket, God also placed her new address.  The number of verses in the Bible are 31,102.  That makes the chances of this occurrence one in 31,102.

7. I was chosen by the family to preach at a grave side funeral.  It was a daunting task, but God was faithful.  He was an ever-present help.  The chances of my being selected to preach were one in five.

8. The morning before the funeral, I was at work.  In our business, for the past 37 years, we’ve started our day with a Bible study.  We read Proverbs 31 that day, which is the chapter about the virtuous woman.  We read approximately 254 chapters per year.  Multiply that by 37 years.  The chances we would read this chapter the day of the funeral was one chance in 9,389.

9. I was chosen to be one of the speakers to represent the family at Dede’s memorial service held at her church.  Chances were one in eight.

10. As you would expect, Dede’s unexpected passing was very trying on the family and close friends.  The day before I was to speak at the memorial service, my niece Alyson, Dede’s youngest daughter, said to me, “Uncle Dave, say something funny,” as in, “help lighten this load.”  Let’s assume the chances of someone making this request are one chance in 20.

11. After others, my time to speak came.  But prior to speaking, I had gone before the Lord to ask for His anointing and for something to say that would glorify Him and honor Dede’s life, yet help lighten the sorrow, as Alyson had asked.  I wore the same seldom-worn blue suit.  As I got behind the pulpit and began to speak, I told the capacity audience of the slip of paper in my pocket—the paper with the scripture verse from Hebrews 12:22.  I pulled it out to read it to them.  But I felt impressed by God at that moment to read the back of the slip of paper first.  I read, “Tomatoes, bread, olives, paper towels, Scott toilet paper.”  God’s direction brought us back to the reality of living and going on with life, yet is was just the amount of humor needed.  I also read the other side of the slip: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God,” (Hebrews 12:22).  The final note on the slip read, “Where the living God lives—” and that’s where Dede now lives, too.

These 11 events were not just simple probabilities, but were contingent probabilities with each one contingent on the next.  The chances of all these events lining up and happing would be one in a very, very huge number.  For explanation’s sake, let’s assume one chance in five million that all of these contingent happenings were a mere coincidence.  Another way to read the number would be 4,999,999 chances out of 5,000,000 that it was God.

He had ordered our steps.  His thumb-print was huge.  God knew all the time and was right there waiting for us.  This was just another personal proof that God is.  My sister left this place in a blaze of glory.

GOD SAID, Psalms 37:23:

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

GOD SAID, Isaiah 46:9-10: