Ordinary isn’t in God’s tool belt!
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ChatGPTWhen Experiencing Godwas published in 1990, no one anticipated the massive impact it would have. Ordinary people began seeing God work through their lives in extraordinary ways. God used unassuming churches mightily. People started new ministries and joined God's activity in the most unusual places. Our ministry is inundated with these stories every week.
Over time, an unexpected consequence of these mighty moves of God was that people began to expect that everything God did would be spectacular.
Experiencing Godteaches that God does God-sized things. That's true. But God-sized doesn't necessarily mean flashy or conspicuous.
Nevertheless, many people assumed that if they were walking closely with God, He would frequently do miracles in their life. When He didn't, they worried that they must have sinned. Some people began to see spectacular "God moments" as evidence of a close walk with their Lord. If they went very long without experiencing a miracle, they worried something was wrong.
When we decided to write a sequel to Experiencing God,we hoped to address some of the most common questions and misconceptions that have arisen through the years.
We also wanted to provide fresh new teaching that would naturally build on the Experiencing God message.
One of the themes of the new content is seeing God in the ordinary. The original study highlighted the moment Moses encountered God in the burning bush. That experience obviously had enormous consequences.
But Moses only had one burning bush moment. Considering how effective it was, one might assume God would repeat the technique. But He didn't.
There's no question that God uses spectacular circumstances to communicate with people. Yet those experiences tend to be the exception, not the rule.
Most of the time when God spoke to Moses, the Bible simply records that "God said to Moses . . ." Scripture doesn't reveal exactly how God communicated with Moses, only that He did.
Likewise, God did some amazing things through Moses's ministry, including bringing ten plagues down on Egypt and parting the Red Sea.
But as incredible as those events were, they were the exception, not the rule. Moses spent decades in the wilderness, and no seas were parted during that time.
Of course, a lack of recorded miracles doesn't mean God wasn't present and active. It may simply mean that what God did didn't strike people as spectacular.
What's interesting is that God didsend manna every day for forty years. And though that daily provision was miraculous, it didn't seem remarkable to the Israelites.
In fact, they grumbled when all God did was send manna. It was light and melted in their mouth, but it sustained an entire nation in the desert for 40 years. It literally saved their lives. Yet the Israelites treated it with contempt. The manna was as much an act of God as was parting the Red Sea or sending a death angel. It just wasn't as exciting!
The problem is that spiritual "highs" can be addictive. When we see God do a miracle, we feel a palpable thrill. We are left wanting more.
When the Holy Spirit moves powerfully in a church service and people flood to the altar, we fervently pray for God to do it again. But if God instead grants us a sense of peace, joy, or comfort in a worship service, we may wonder why He didn't "do anything" that day. God may well have done a fresh work, just not one that appear spectacular to us.
God does God-sized things, but we must understand what that means.
First, what God does is eternal.
Over time, a seemingly small act of God may produce compound results that extend further than we could have ever imagined.
Second, God views the world differently than we do.
A church service may seem uneventful to us, even if God was active all around us. Perhaps a man had been planning on leaving his wife, but the Holy Spirit convicted him of how foolhardy that course of action would be. Maybe a teenager was contemplating suicide but found freedom while praying in her seat during the closing song. God is at work around us, even when we don't see what He's doing.
Third, anythingGod does is important.
He doesn't waste His time or yours. If He leads you to send a note of encouragement to a friend, spend the evening playing with your preschooler, or set aside work for an evening to go for a walk with your spouse, it's important!
Some Christians feel discouraged because God doesn't seem to be doing anything significant in their life. Yet God may be using them to be a friend to the friendless, bless a senior adult, or act as a role model for a fatherless child. When you obey God, what you do matters because of who asked you to do it. Any task the king assigns is important!
Sadly, many Christians simply don't recognize
One of the reasons God used my dad so powerfully was because he noticed God's activity in the seemingly ordinary moments of life. He saw God work often. Not all of those experiences involved world leaders or large checks. Many consisted of a quiet conversation, a simple phone call, or a passing comment. Yet dad had no doubt that he had joined God's eternal activity.
One of our goals for Experiencing God in Everyday Lifeis to help people recognize God in seemingly ordinary moments. It's great to join God's activity when He moves in a packed arena or on the global stage. But it is equally exciting when God invites us to join His activity in the life of our neighbor or child. It's our undeserved privilege to join God in any work He does.
Keep your spiritual eyes and ears open. You might be surprised by how active God is all around you. What He does may not always look spectacular, but it is certainly important.
 | Richard Blackaby is the president of Blackaby Ministries International and lives in Georgia. He travels internationally speaking on spiritual leadership in the home, church, and marketplace as well as on spiritual awakening, experiencing God, and the Christian life. Richard regularly ministers to Christian CEOs and business leaders. He has written or co-authored 33 books . This article was first published on RichardBlackaby.com. Used with permission from Blackaby Ministries International. Learn More » |
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