Stop the Presses!

“Call to me and I will answer you…” Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)
This was my favourite Bible challenge for skeptics, people who demanded proof of God, or the reason for my faith, in the most secular place I knew, The Spectator newsroom.
Make no mistake, these folks were my friends and colleagues, and many were genuinely interested in why I was a believer but weren’t prepared themselves to take a leap of faith.
I would quote Jeremiah, and suggest they give that a try, see what happens? I would wave away any reposte about how this applied only to Jeremiah with the same answer. “Even so, give it a try, see what happens?”
When I first entered management at the paper, measured in church time that would be about five senior pastors ago, I became Production Editor. It’s one of those entry-level management jobs where if anything goes wrong, serious typos, the paper is late publishing, a libelous phrase slips by, it’s considered your fault.
The Production Editor managed the copy editors, wire editor, page designers, liaised with the press room and a dozen other things. I had the power to “stop the presses,” which incidentally was never used to stuff in a breaking news story. It was an emergency option to prevent something horrible from escaping the building in print. Eg: the front page picture was upside down, you misspelled the name of the Prime Minister in a headline. It was the sort of thing that earned the Production Editor a trip to the Editor-In-Chief’s office to explain why umpteen thousand copies of the paper had been tossed into the bin.
The other thing I had the power to do was hire staff. This was critical because copy editors were the paper’s last line of defence between potential laws suits, embarrassment and, heaven forbid, stopping the presses.
We had in those days full-time, part-time and on-call copy editors. And that was the road to full-time employment. Nobody got a full-time job walking in off the street. If you had the potential skills you joined the on-call list and made yourself available six nights a week to fill in whenever someone was away.
About the time I became Production Editor, I also began teaching an adult Bible class at Central. The topic was prayer.
I remember telling the class to think about that one thing in their life they really needed to lift up to God in prayer, and to do so each day. Then on Sundays we might compare notes.
Then a job vacancy came up.

I did the interviews and knew immediately who to hire. It was an on-call copy editor who had demonstrated great skill, who showed up every time I called, who did every job with great care, and fit in well with the staff.
Perfect. I thought. Protocol required that I advise the Editor-in-Chief of my choice and then the Editor would sign off. That was a given. That’s why I did the interviews instead of the Editor.
Except this time.

The editor had been to a lecture on diversity or something like that and apparently my choice, based solely on necessary skill and previous service, didn’t fit.
“I’ll see who’s out there,” the Editor said. “And I’ll let you know.”
I was stupefied and walked away thinking unworthy thoughts.
It occurred to me, after I calmed down, that this was the thing I needed to appraise God about in prayer. And I did. I complained bitterly in prayer all week.
The following Monday I went back to see the Editor who promptly told me I was not to hire my selected candidate and that he would let me know when he found someone suitable.
I was outraged and continued my daily assault on heaven.
This went on for another two weeks. The Editor was adamant, and I kept praying. And nothing changed.
Prayer class became hard to teach.
Then one day I was sitting at home reading a detective novel I think, relaxing before going in to work and received the shock of my life. One of the characters in the novel quotes Isaiah 55:8–9.
[8] For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (ESV)
I was stunned. It suddenly dawned upon me that I was not prepared to accept the Lord’s will when it differed from mine. This was so shocking a revelation that I went and found my wife and confessed it to her, and then I prayed and repented with remorse.
Then I drove to the paper still shaken by the insight. As soon as I walked into the newsroom the Editor called me into his office and said “I’ve changed my mind. Go ahead and hire (your candidate.)”
I could feel the hair on the back of my neck standing up and I felt extremely humbled.
I shudder now to think of the arrogance and pride that would have taken root had I immediately received the answer to my prayers under the circumstances.
I have learned, slowly, and haltingly, to understand that there is no such thing as silence from heaven. When you pray, God hears, and He will take every opportunity to answer you and to give you what you need in every circumstance. Every time. Because He loves you. But remember, His thoughts are not your thoughts.
“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Jeremiah 33:3 (ESV)