Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind. Isaiah 58:8b
Have you ever experienced the power of God, first-hand? Carl Beech did.
Carl answered his door one day to find a threatening looking man with a beer in his hand standing there. Carl invited the man in and asked what his name was and what he did. “I mash people,” he replied, “and I’ve come to have a word with you because you’ve been messing with my sister’s head.” Carl had recently introduced the man’s sister to Jesus.
Carl said he realized that he was in trouble. His wife and newborn baby were in the next room, and he was trapped in a tiny kitchen. What did Carl do? He said, “I’ll put the kettle on!” Carl recounts: “I turned my back to make a cup of tea, and … heard a crash behind me! I turned around and this guy, he’s in the fetal position, literally shaking on the floor!”
Carl’s wife came running and they helped the man sit up and sip some tea. “When you turned your back on me,” the man said, “I pulled my fist back to punch you as hard as I could [to break your neck]. But all this power came out of your back, and I hit the deck!” “What’s that!?”
“I know now,” Carl tells, it was “the power of God.” In the Bible book of Isaiah God tells his people when they worship Him by treating others well, “the glory of the LORD will be [their] rear guard” (Isaiah 58:8b NIV). It says, “Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind” (NLT). That same glory is in operation today.
And the big guy who used to “mash people” for work? “Carl says” Obviously, he gave his life to Jesus. Because you would after that, wouldn’t you?”[1]
[1] “Protected.” YouTube, Streams Studio, 1 Jan. 2025, youtu.be/0s8lYrWkMW8?si=jbUczMa6R8t-Dvm8.
