My favorite Bible story is the one of Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18). Baal's prophets try to show that Baal is the true god by convincing him to send fire to burn up a sacrifice they had prepared. (Guess what--it doesn't work.) God then dramatically demonstrates that He is the true God by zapping a sacrifice which Elijah had prepared with fire from heaven. This was definitely God at work. It was something that was hard to miss.
Does God still work like this? Well, I haven't seen any fire from heaven lately, but since God is constantly amazing me, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. However, I can see definite signs that He is at work, but only when I actually take the time to look around me. This past weekend I looked--and found. I went to church on Sunday and heard, Tony, a devoted Christian, share a "God-at-work" story. Several weeks ago, our church had participated in a construction project for a burned-out home in our community. Tony was in charge of the project and was really concerned that it wouldn't get finished by the deadline. It had rained on Friday which made us lose a day of work and pushed the shingling of the house to Saturday, a day no one had originally planned on working. Sure enough, Saturday dawned and very few workers from our church showed up. Suddenly several cars pull up and a professional roofing crew jumps out. They had heard of our project and wanted to come and help. They had the whole thing done in about two hours. It was God at work. After the service, a lady in charge of our card ministry came up to me with a story. She had sent a follow-up card to a family who had lost a son several months ago. It just happened to arrive on their son's birthday. We had 365 different days to send that card and it 'just happened' to get there on his birthday. The mother had sent a note thanking us for remembering them on a very sad day, just when they especially needed some comfort. Once again, God at work. We serve a God who sees the needs of His people, who knows ahead of time what they will need and when, and works to bring about His help, His comfort, and His perfect plan. How often do I miss what He's doing because I'm not paying attention? How often do I miss a chance to join in because I'm too distracted with my own 'important agenda?'
Sometimes I forget why I'm really here on this earth. I forget that my purpose in life is not to see how clean I can keep my house or how many activities I can get my kids to in one day. My purpose in life is to serve the true and living God, to do His bidding, and to join Him in His work--a work that is all around me, a work that is apparent when I take the time to look for it. Haven't seen God at work lately? Look around!
God, thank you for working in our midst; for giving us the incredible opportunity to join You in Your divine work. Help us not to miss it because we're not paying attention.
Janine Miller
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