Invisibly Involved by Stephen Davey

Invisibly Involved Philippians 2:13 For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. The internet has allowed people to engage in events worldwide.  Today we can surf sites and witness incidents unfolding in real time.  A decade ago, much was made of the approaching millennium Y2K.  At that time, an article from the Wall Street Journal caught my attention.  Daystar International Ministry had high hopes of using a strategically located webcam to capture an unusual sight: the second coming of the Messiah!  This was expected at the stroke of midnight, signaling the year 2000. I won’t take time to mention the prophetic problems Daystar was overlooking.  Okay––maybe I will mention one . . . the people who care about His second coming won’t be watching Him descend to Jerusalem; we’ll be coming with Him!  Imagine capturingGod on film!  You would have Messiah where you could actually see Him.  Your own personal DVD from Daystar for $29.99—if you purchase it in the next fifteen minutes, of course! A paparazzi photo frenzy would be old news compared to such a spectacle as this.  A miraculous sighting of the Lord seems far more marketable and exciting than the invisible working of God . . . an idea that won’t sell many DVDs.  Still, the longing in all our hearts remains—a longing that has television shows spinning off series after series: trying to understand the ways of God; imagining how heaven responds to earth; interpreting the role of angels and demons in the affairs of mankind.  There are today fabricated reports of miraculous occurrences all across the globe:  visions, sightings, miracles, and strange happenings. I’ll admit that it would be exciting to see with my own eyes a miracle performed by God.  That’s so much more interesting than attempting to discern His invisible providence—His invisible working in the ordinary events of everyday life.  Yet for the believer today, that is where God actually is at work—in the mundane, tiring, ordinary, and even repetitive duties of life.  It may come without the thunder and lightning of Mount Sinai, but He is working in our lives right now just as He worked in the lives of His disciples and followers in the first century. Howie Stevenson, former Music Minister who served with Pastor Chuck Swindoll for many years, was fond of saying, “God moves among the casseroles.”  He meant that God was just as much at work in a person making dinner in the kitchen as He was in Paul planting a church in Ephesus. God knows how easy it is for you to doubt His sovereignty when you don’t see and hear His power . . . or sense His presence in the silence. But He has spoken, and He is present. Walter Chalmers Smith put it this way when he wrote the first verse to a hymn in 1867: Immortal, invisible, God only wise, In light inaccessible hid from our eyes, Most blessed, most glorious, The Ancient of Days, Almighty, victorious— Thy great name we praise. Kitchens, cubicles, car pools, and conference rooms—all are the Holy of Holies. You are in His presence today; although invisible, He is at work in you at this very moment.  You don’t need a camera to prove it—God promised it. So trust His heart . . . even when you can’t see His hand. Prayer Point:  Ask the Lord for greater trust in His presence and involvement in your life, addressing Him as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and me.”  This will help remind you that He is the God of all history—past and present. Extra Refreshment:  Read 2 Corinthians 1:2-7 to see one way that God is absolutely involved in your life.