When God Does Awesome Things You Do Not Expect
Awesome Things You Did Not Expect
"For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you." - Isaiah 64:3
Has God ever done anything awesome in your life that you did not expect? Something miraculous perhaps? Something that can only be explained as God's presence?
Sometimes things happen to us that can be difficult to explain or describe. Sometimes God does perform modern day miracles of the mind, heart and soul. Has He moved a mountain for you recently? Has He provided a blessing of money, friendship, time? God moves in our lives more readily than we expect, and at times, He provides for us before we even know we need provision.
Do Not Worry
Matthew 6:25-34 tells us not to worry, because if God provides daily for the birds of the air, then how much more will He provide for us, the ones He loves?
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Verse 26).
At times, God provides whether we are aware we need it or not. And when things get tough and we start to worry, that is when we need to focus on the times He has provided in the past. God's timing is always better than our own, and in our waiting we develop patience, character and hope. (Romans 5:1-5)
In my recent article Be Still And Know... God May Be Speaking To You I mentioned how God had blessed me with some little birds to remind me of His everlasting love and presence in my life. These birds are still ever present (and often follow me around when I go walking). They keep me grounded in my faith. I am more aware of God than ever before and I love to look for ways God may be expressing His greatness, His power, His mercy or His love for me, on any given day.
Trusting Him
Our history of financial security has not the best. There have been many, many times over the last nine or so years, where we have been at a total loss as to how we were going to pay this bill, or meet that repayment, or even at times put a meal on the table for our family. Each and every time God has provided, but it has always been in His time and in His way. We cannot jump up and down and demand God provides in this particular way and right now. God doesn't work that way. His timing is right, and for a reason... which is mostly due to His infinite wisdom, which we, as mere humans, struggle to fully comprehend.
1 Corinthians 1:25 states that ...the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Most of the time we just need to trust that God really does know what He is doing and in doing so, trust Him with the big things in our lives.
Waiting On Him
Around the time the little birds first entered my life, I had been reflecting on Isaiah 64 which describes just how awesome God really is, and how He acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. (Verse 4)
I had been to the night service at our local church one evening where I am involved with the music and co-ordination of the services. We had planned an extra special service that night and everyone there had really felt God's presence. It was just one of those beautiful evenings where you could see God was in control. At the end of the service, a lovely couple came up to me and handed me an envelope with some money in it, saying:
"This isn't from us really, God told us you needed this."
Now at the time, I felt a bit strange accepting it as I didn't feel we had any pressing financial burdens. I later glanced in the envelope and realised there were quite a few hundred dollars in there. I was totally astounded and felt so overwhelmed by their generosity, but in my head I was thinking 'we don't really need this do we?'
When I got home to my husband (who had stayed home with the kids that night), I was just buzzing from the great service. However he seemed to not share my enthusiasm at first. In fact, he just seemed to be anxiously preoccupied with this thoughts. I kept chatting on about the night and finally told him of the amazing gift of money we had been given. I pulled the money out of the envelope and as I counted it out my husband just stood there, stunned.
When he finally spoke, he said that the bank had just called to say we were behind in our mortgage repayments and there was a certain amount that had to be paid immediately, due to annual fees and other aspects we had been unaware of. The amount owing was exact to that in the envelope.
When God does awesome things we do not expect...
He Provides
Since then, and also prior to then, God has provided for us on many occasions through the generosity of friends and family; people with their ears and eyes open to God's guidance and also to the needs of others around them. Sometimes God may give us a direct message, as he had given the couple at church before they arrived that night. Sometimes I think God wants us to use our common sense and discretion and help people where they quite obviously need it.
As 1 John 3:16-17 says,
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?
Even though we are far from reaching financial freedom (if there even is such a thing), we now depend on God for our needs and we thank Him always for His provisions. Everything we have, and anything we are yet to gain, is a gift from Him. I only hope one day I can help others in the way we have been helped in our times of need.
In the meantime, the only thing I can give to others is love. So that's what I intend to do. To love as God has called me to, and to trust in Him always to provide.
