God at Work

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. Revelation 21:5-6 (KJV)

I love to look at the night sky. Sitting in my backyard at night I can see what at first glance appears to be a cloud that stretches across the sky but upon closer examination the massive object comes into focus and you can see the millions of stars that make up part of our Milky Way Galaxy. This sight never fails to move my heart as I ponder the glory of God. Stars so huge that they dwarf our sun yet so far away that they appear as grains of sand in the night sky and all of them were put in place by a God so big he spoke each star into existence yet so small that He can live within the heart of man.

It is truly beyond human comprehension! The Universe declares the glory of God but we are left with more questions than answers. As science has discovered techniques to search and understand the vast reaches of space each exploration has left us with more questions than answers. Who can know the mind of God? Who can search His reasoning? The more we seek to know Him the more we are left in awe of His glory.

Everywhere that God places His hand is that way, from the complexities of the human body to the wonder of the mysteries of nature. The wonder of God’s creation is everywhere. We can see Him in every blade of grass and the rising of the sun. There is no place we can look that God has not been; nothing that we can touch that God has not put in place. Where ever we go we see God at work.

Knowing all this it is still hard to see that God is working in us. We see glimpses of grace in those around us and declare His Word over our lives but no matter what we do it is easy to lose sight of the fact that God is working, right now, in our life. When things are going great and we want for nothing we forget God and attribute our blessing to fortune, good luck, hard work, or some other nefarious reason. It is easy when we enter the land flowing with milk and honey to forget God. This is not new, remember what God warned Israel as they were about to enter the Promised Land.

“Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Deuteronomy 8:11-14 (NIV)

Even with this warning the Israelites left us with a history of forgetting God and chasing after idols. They continuously looked to other gods, other nations, and other people for the security, blessing, and peace which only God can provide.

There is another aspect of forgetting God. This one lies on the other end of the spectrum, not when things are going great but when we walk through the valley of sorrow. All too often when trials come we find ourselves struggling in our own wisdom and seeking advice from the bestselling author or anointed guru of the day. Many try to drown their trouble in a sea of alcohol or bury it in a mountain of pills. The enemy “as a roaring lion” attempts to get us to focus on him and forget who guards the door. Peter reminds us of this,

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” 1 Peter 5:6-8 (KJV)

You may have heard the last verse of that passage quoted before. We are fond of warning about the “old lion” that is seeking “whom he may devour”. There is a reality behind that passage that is lost in today’s modern society. At night the Shepherds of Israel would gather their sheep into a fenced off area for protection against the lions and other wild beasts. The Shepherd would stand or lay down in the gate or door way to the pen. He would stand guard and nothing harmful would be able to get in and destroy the flock. At times an old lion that wasn’t fast enough to capture prey in the wild would lie just outside the pen and roar. This would begin to trouble the sheep. Their attention was no longer on the Shepherd but they began to focus on the lion. The lion would roar and threaten the flock until one of them panicked and jumped out of the pen and ran off becoming easy prey for the lion.

This is the picture that Peter was painting. We are safe in the arm of The Great Shepherd and nothing can harm us. His plans for our life are sure. “What can separate us from God’s love?” The enemy knows that he cannot come in to the fold because Jesus is the “Door” so his only chance is to convince us that what God is doing in our lives isn’t working. If we take our eyes off the Shepherd and listen to the other sheep that are panicking then fear begins to overcome our faith and we run from the Shepherd instead of to Him.

Peter begins the above passage with “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God…” Know that God is for you. He is working in your life and as long as you stay humble before Him you will be exalted in due time. The next time that old lion begins to roar, be still and listen to that cloud of stars sweeping across the sky. Their whisper is deafening.