What in the world is God doing?
I wonder this sometimes.
I read Scripture and know that God can do miraculous things, knowing He is the same yesterday and today and forever, and I want to Him to be that in my world. He has parted seas, made donkeys talk, brought city walls down with a shout, and rescued men from both the furnace and the lion’s den. This doesn’t include the miracles of the New Testament when he turned water to wine, brought back people from the dead, cast out demons, and provided food for thousands from lots of nothing. He has done some pretty amazing stuff.
He is continually at work around us, loves us beyond measure, and always has a bigger plan.
I have moments when it is really difficult to see what He is doing. I expect Him to do things He has done before . . . and sometimes He does. But most times, He does something completely different.
Did you notice those miracles of the Bible? Not one of them is exactly alike. Some have some serious similarities, but none is just alike. I don’t serve a “cookie cutter God.” I serve an imaginative, responsive, fully-engaged God. He is miraculously able to see the entire situation, all personalities involved, and the consequences of all possible action, and makes a decision.
The decision is not always what we expect, sometimes not what we like, but all for His glory.
I can get frustrated at this very thing. I think sometimes it would be great to predict the work of God, but I can’t. You know, with regard to my children he will use an egg-shaped cookie cutter, with regard to my husband maybe a Texas-shaped one, with regard to my church maybe we need the cross-shaped one. I could go on and on. I start to think that a predictable God is better than this random chance I think I am in.
In those moments, I am wrong.
If God was completely predictable in what He would do, I see two big challenges that would come:
1. He would only act as far as my understanding would allow. We all surely see the challenges with that. If my understanding was as far as God could act, we would surely not get very far. The acts of God would be SERIOUSLY limited. Like seriously.
2. We would lose the awe factor of who God is. Imagine if He parted the red sea every time we had an issue. It was really cool when He did it. But if it happened every day, we would completely miss the awesomeness of God, because, well, He just did the same thing yesterday. We would get bored pretty fast.
I write this today because this is exactly where I am. A lot is going on in our world – from my hubby’s job to our local Chapel. Things are changing. God is adjusting things, and I don’t necessarily understand it all. I want to grasp what He is doing, but I just can’t see it all. In moments like this, little things like fear and anxiety can start to creep in. What is He doing and what is it all going to look like on the other side? Two questions I ask myself–and God–quite frequently.
God is not a “cookie cutter God.” But if we get to know God and His nature, we will be able to recognize Him in the world around us. The more we know Him, the more realize as well that we don’t always know what God is doing . . . and that is okay as well.
It is not our job to know. Our job is to trust–trust who He is, continue to seek Him, and follow with our whole heart wherever He leads us.
He is not “cookie cutter” and I am thankful. He is still just as powerful, but so intimately involved with my life that He has a plan just for me. My goal? Stop looking for what God is doing and simply seek God.
Do you look for cookie cutter answers as well? What are you learning and where is God leading in your world?
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