I’m continuing my blog posts about going on a God Hunt—learning to look for God in your everyday worlds. Today’s blog post focuses on an Unexpected Evidence of God’s Care:
- The accident on the expressway happens three cars behind you instead of three cars in front of you. That’s unexpected evidence of God’s care.
- You have missionaries stay in your home and, oh no, the upstairs toilet suddenly quits functioning. But, oh, yes, your guest just happens to know all about plumbing and fixes it for you in no time and at no cost. That’s unexpected evidence of God’s care.
- You’re opening a new office and have been pressed for time, but you go to church anyway. And you speak to a friend about this new venture and how you’re trying to put an office together. And he tells you about a place that’s downsizing where you can get nice desks and file cabinets and even computers for FREE. The next day you go there and they have practically everything you need and it’s all yours, if you just do the moving. Thank You Jesus—for unexpected evidence of Your care!
- “How will I get everything done?” You fret as you start your day. The kids really deserve more of your time, but you just have too much on your plate. Then the phone rings and your sister says, “I’m taking my two to Great America and they want their cousins to join them. Can they come along? I’ll have them back by 8:00 p.m. tonight.” You realize, if you use your time wisely, you can finish off any number of tasks, and you really should, because quite possibly God himself has shown you unexpected evidence of His care.
- Do sightings have to be huge things? No! Even one antagonist being put in his or her place still qualifies to make the God Hunt list in my book. At the office your attempt to practice the Scripture found in Proverbs 15:1, which read, “A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.” So you speak kindly to that person who always seems to perfect his or her put-downs at your expense. But someone thinks that enough is enough, and the smart mouth is suddenly transferred to the midnight shift. And just maybe that unnamed somebody was God. Now there’s a thought for you to consider! How wonderful! That’s unexpected evidence of God’s care.
In her book The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found, Karen Mains writes:
Wonder and an ability to believe often go hand in hand. We stand in awe of something that captures our attention; curiosity begins to rise as to why or how this phenomenon comes to be; curiosity leads to research, then we stand humbled by the magnitude of what we are discovering. “Isn’t it wonderful?” we say in the learning. “Isn’t this fascinating? How beautiful!”
Sir Francis Bacon, almost four hundred years ago, wrote that wonder—which he felt was the seed of knowledge—was the reflection of the purest form of pleasure. It is that kind of pleasure we must recapture if we are to take joy in the world as an expression of the personality of God. This kind of delight opens us to learning, to discovery, to the ability to believe in what is spiritually true. We will begin to stand amazed at the incarnation that is still redeeming us in every way, as the little girl does in John Shea’s poem “Sharon’s Christmas Prayer”:
She was five
Sure of the facts,
And recited them
With slow solemnity
Convinced every word
Was revelation.
She said
They were so poor
They had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
To eat.
And they went a long way from home
Without getting lost. The lady rode
A donkey, the man walked, and the baby
Was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
With an ox and an ass (tee-hee)
But the Three Rich Men found them
Because a star lited the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
Pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was born.
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
To silver dollars.
The baby was God.
And she jumped in the air
Whirled around, dove into the sofa
And buried her head under the cushion
Which is the only proper response
To the Good News of the Incarnation.
More on the God Hunt in tomorrow’s blog post. I hope you’ll return to read it.
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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about?
Or, if you’re someone who plans well ahead, have you asked yourself what you will preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon?
David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Saturday or Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions.
We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.
For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.
