Rev. Richard Smith
Psalm 9:1-2
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High!
A consistent theme throughout the Bible is the truth that God is at work in our lives and in our world! The question isn’t whether God is at work or not; the question is how God is at work; how He is at work in our lives and in our world. Let me share five insights…
God Doesn’t Typically Work Dramatically
There clearly are in the Bible numerous examples of God working dramatically and extraordinarily in people’s lives. Moses’ encounter with the burning bush in Exodus and Saul of Tarsus’ experience on the road to Damascus certainly come to mind. Throughout Christian history as well there have been manifold witnesses to a dramatic working of God in their lives. None of us question this.
But, for you and me, this most likely will not be the case. In your life and in my life God is more likely to work indirectly, behind the scenes, as “that still small voice”, as an inner voice which nudges, in the ordinary circumstances of our lives.
God Speaks Through Reason And Intellect
All of us, I think, are aware of the tragedy of Johnestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978. On that date Jim Jones, self-proclaimed apocalyptic leader, called his followers to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide poison. He told them it was their ticket to heaven, to a new and better life. He did this as he was being investigated. Well, 909 Americans drank that poison and died. Additionally, a few of his followers killed five persons at the airport. It truly was a horrific event.
Well, why didn’t somebody apply reason here? Why didn’t someone use his or her mind and say, Wait a minute; this just doesn’t make sense. Is this really what a God of love would have us do? Does it make sense that God would want us all to kill ourselves? Of course, no one did.
A lot of religious and spiritual harm and bad spirituality can be avoided if we just use the gift of reason God has given us.
Note my earlier reflection on faith and reason from October 25.
God Speaks Through Other People
When you and I pray to God, when we bring our prayer lists before him, keep in mind that one of the most common ways He answers our prayers is through other people.
One Christian thinker says there are four ways the thoughts and words of others serve as venues of God’s divine work for us.
For encouragement;
For guidance and wisdom;
For needed caution about steps we’re about to take, which we need to avoid;
For the comforting reminder that we’re never alone; that He is with us; and others are with us.
God Works Through Serendipitous Happenings
God often works in our lives through inexplicable, serendipitous moments; experiences when some things just fall in place for our good without necessarily any rational basis. These experiences often seem like coincidence. However, remember what someone has shared, “Coincidence is simply God’s way of remaining anonymous. Pay attention to these moments; they very well may be God speaking to you.
None of us should question these unbelievable moments when God seems to be breaking through making sure that we are attentive, that we get the message He wants us to get!
God Uses Moments Of Difficulty In Our Lives
God uses the challenging and difficult moments in our lives to help us grow, to help us mature, to help us become more of the persons He wants and needs us to be, to help us deepen our relationship with Him. Now in saying this, I’m not saying that God causes these acts of specific suffering or difficulty or great challenge just so He can teach us. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that God causes your particular suffering and difficulty or my particular suffering or difficulty.
I do believe that God uses these moments in our lives to help us grow and mature.
Again, you can find my deeper thinking on God and suffering at my November 29 post.