I Spy God…

Wildfires aside, we still love to drive through the mountains only a few hours from our home. Besides looking up at the grandeur of the peaks accented by incredible forests and color everywhere, a detail never fails to amaze me. How do trees grow out of rocks? Think of the power of a seed, and most of them do not even look like seeds, yet they sprout and roots reach through to nourishment and the trees grow, some of them even splitting the rocks apart.

Today’s reading likens the power of Christ in His people to that seed. It is a power that works in our weakness, meaning without Him we are unable to do the will of God. Not only that, it is a power that rules over all else, even those events and circumstances that threaten to overcome all goodness and the desires of our hearts.

I witnessed this power at our family reunion. People who seldom talk chatted with ease. Those who never met the others prior to this gathering were amazed by the love shown to them as were the others amazed by their interest in everything new. So many God-things happened that I felt like a bystander watching Him work — the same sort of feeling I get looking at a tree sprouting up through the rocks of an overwhelming mountain. God, how do You do that?

One thing I’m noticing in myself and in others is that we need to have a fuller concept of who God is and what He can do. If my ideas about God are faulty or inadequate, I don’t even notice His power at work.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. (1 Chronicles 29:11)

For nothing will be impossible with God. (Luke 1:37)

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)

Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. (Psalm 147:5)

These and other verses say it, but I also need to say it, to ask God to open my eyes to His wonders. This is needed because it is not part of my sinful nature to want this or see it.

When one granddaughter was about three, we went for a walk. I pointed to various things such as the sky, the grass, the flowers and said, “God made this for us to enjoy.” Finally I added, “And God made you too.” At that, she put her little hands on her little hips and declared, “No he didn’t.”

This is the built-in attitude of sin — a refusal to acknowledge God. I need to fight it. I need to look at the trees and think of them waving praise to God. I need to see His handiwork in creation and His mighty work to change lives in His people. Even those who do not believe will somehow display that they are made in His image, and even those who disagree and try to change what they are, I need to be thankful that only God can change lives.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil. (Jeremiah 13:23)

If we cannot do good without Him, I can be certain that even the evil anyone may do is under His control and supervision. I may not understand why or what God is doing or allowing, but I can be certain that He is at work: “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)

PRAY: Jesus, seeing Your hand in all of life has changed my life. Fear gives way to confidence for I know that You know what You are doing. Wars and tragedies, crime and human evil seem to win, but  You are not finished yet. The Bible is clear that at the end of it all, You are the winner, the One who is able to sprout seeds in a rock and make sense of a world that seems out of control. Keep my eyes on You.