FOR You Not in FRONT of You

Most of God's mightiness is done FOR you not in FRONT of you.  When something is done for you, it is often not seen or known by you.  Have you ever walked into a surprise birthday party that your friends had been scheming for months?  Something had been done for you not in front of you.

When it comes to God we want Him to do everything in front of us.  We want Him to display His mightiness in a way that is fully visible.  We want to be eye witnesses of it. In fact, we often say things like this:  "If only I could see one great miracle of God, then I would really believe."

The problem with that kind of thinking is that it is the total opposite of God's normative way of functioning.  Most of His mightiness is done for us, happening unbeknownst to us while we sleep or behind us or near us and at His mysterious timing.  God rarely gets the glory due Him for the bountiful ways He is, thought unknowingly to us, mighty on a daily basis on our behalf.

I sometimes try to imagine what it would be like for God to lift me up to His perspective for just one day.  The mind-blowing experience that would ensue as I witnessed His magical orchestrating of all things peaks my curiousity beyond measure.  I fear that the experience might render me forever incapable of raising from my knees of gratitude for all He does undetectable to the human eye.

I wonder what would happen if we learned to LOVE the special, rare moments that God does in front of us but LIVED in the incalculable, sustaining moments of mightiness done for us?  How might we be changed forever?  My suspicion is that petty complaining would cease; faith would increase; fruits of the spirit would burst forth; strongholds would vanish; peace and contentment would rule our hearts; and the shalom of God would pour forth out of our churches into the streets.

No doubt Satan knows this, and therefore daily seeks to cloud our thinking and judgment like he has been doing since the Garden of Eden.  But Satan can be crushed under our feet.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us.  Resist Satan and he will flee.

I am looking forward to that day in Eternity when I will know all that God has done for me.  What about you?  At that time and in light of what He will reveal, our response will be nothing short of an instantaneous posture of continual worship and adoration of His supremacy.

He is El Shaddai - God Almighty and all-sufficient.

Ex nihilo,


R.J. Rhoden