Most Believers, especially every one that has seen Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, have thought it would be nice if the Lord would just pop into the nearest bush, fire it up, and lay out exactly what we’re supposed to be doing for the day, the week, the rest of our lives. 

For weeks, every time I pick up a devotional or read of the work about the missionaries who have gone before, God speaks to me.  I have an electronic Bible on my computer with a set of 5 devotions that load when I open it.  Several days in a row, every one of the 5 were right on target for what was going on in our lives, or about a conversation I had just been having.

I was talking to someone about this, and I said that it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, that a good devotional would probably have something applicable to most believers every day — like a fortune cookie, you always wonder how you happened to get the perfect one!  That evening, I read through the devotions for the day, and every single one had absolutely nothing to do with anything in our lives.  Nothing inspiring, nothing applicable, they were all completely off-target.

Being the attentive person that I am, I didn’t even notice the extremeness of how uninspiring these devotions were.  It didn’t hit me until the next day, and I laughed at how quickly God had responded to my comment about Him NOT speaking to me through the random devotions.  Thankfully, He’s back to speaking through devotions and His Word, but I’ll keep checking the bushes, just in case…

I lost a set of keys on a Monday a few weeks ago.  Most of the keys on the ring I could live without for a few days, but one was the master key for the apartment complex I had been doing remodeling work for, and it’s really inconvenient to find someone with a key every time you need access to a unit.

By Friday, I gave up hope of the keys magically appearing and asked another contractor to get me a new master.  I got a call from him a few minutes later asking me to come outside, where he was standing across the street.  As it turns out, as he was walking through the grass on his way to make my key he stepped on something in the grass:  my keys.

I’ve been thinking about the extent of God’s involvement in the little things in our lives.  There are some who say that none of the times we have found to be great learning experiences were at all orchestrated by God.  And there are others than consider every little thing to be part of a “God-lesson”.

Pro 3:5, 6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

So, did God hide my keys?  Did he let that particular keyring fall away from the rest of them, to be found 5 days later, to teach us some grand new thing that we would soon be using on the Mission Field?  Or was the act of the other contractor stepping on them and finding them at such an opportune time meant to be a turning-point in his walk with the Lord?  For the most part, I think it was just a matter of physics, I pulled my keys out of my pocket and this keyring detached from the others and just fell to the ground as a function of gravity.

I thanked God when they were found, and I expect He was involved.  Whether the guy’s steps were guided to land on the keys or not doesn’t really matter.  Nothing grand, but God used it to remind me that He’s involved even in the little things.  It’s also what prompted me to write about God working in our lives.

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I had just walked across the apartment complex to get some tools, and realized as soon as I returned that I had forgotten one.  Ug.  As I headed back to get it, I started to wonder again about how much God is involved in the little things.  Then I began to wonder who I might run in to or just why God wanted me to make a second trip.  As I was walking, I was watching for an opportunity, still wondering if God had a plan in this second trip.

The trip was uneventful, but it hit me that it should always be like this:  Every time my feet hit the floor, every time my fingers hit the keyboard, every time I pick up the phone, I need to be a witness, to remember I’m an ambassador.  I need to pay attention to everything and everyone that I come in contact with.  Most everybody is in need of something, whether it’s prayer, comfort, or to be introduced to Jesus.

I Peter 3:15  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,

I’ll choose to give God credit, to err on the side of caution and when the good stuff happens, thank Him.  Whether it’s airline tickets that are about half-priced for the only couple of days Kelly (the missionary in the Transkei) was available to meet with us in Denver when he was in the states, the miracle of found keys, or even just a beautiful day to remind me that God does good things for us.

I just wanted to add a little follow-up to my last post.  Considering the options, I’ll attribute this to God’s sense of humor.

Like I said in the post, God’s audible voice is distinctly different that the other dozen or so voices rattling around inside my head.  Last week while working, I was considering calling somebody and asking him for some help in a situation I was in — I had actually just gotten off the phone with the guy, and my question would’ve been an appropriate response to his call, but I had hung up the phone with the attitude of placing the situation in God’s more-than-capable hands.

As I was considering “helping” God in the situation, I heard a voice say “call him”.  I looked up at God and chuckled a little as I responded in my head, “God, that was my voice”

I tried to get serious, to talk to God and lay out my petition before Him, and I heard the voice, deeper this time, “just call him”.  This time, I laughed out loud, and responded out loud, “God, that’s still my voice, only deeper!”

Does my subconscious think I’m that stupid?  Have I given it reason to think I’m that dull?  Probably!  One of my prayers of late has been for God to bind my Spirit with His, to soften mine so that I don’t miss any of His promptings.  He sent His Spirit as a Comforter, Counselor, Truth-revealer.  I want to take absolute advantage of everything God’s offered, in order that I might better serve Him in all the ways that He demands.

I’ve never been a big “vision” person, as in actual appears-before-your-eyes or in-a-dream manifestation of something from the Lord.  I know God can do anything, and there’s plenty in scripture to support such things, and nothing (that I can find) to say they don’t happen.  I’m still somewhat of a skeptic, but I won’t limit God.

About 8 years ago, near the beginning of the ‘trying times’, we were considering spending some time helping out a farmer north of Salina KS.  I felt the Lord wanted us there, and was on the verge of making a short-term commitment to stay on at the farm, and wondering how we were gonna do it, how I’d take care of the family.  I was staying at the farmer’s house (spending 4 days there, long weekends back in KC), and went to my knees to lay it all out to the Spirit.

As I began to pray in the little bedroom with the lights out, I looked up, and

ESA/Hubble

somehow through the tiny little 1 foot square window in the room I saw the entire expanse of the the night sky.  It was like I was laying on my back on the top of a mountain, nothing between me and the sky.  As I looked, the stars began to move and formed the rough image of a Man with His arms open wide.  The message wasn’t audible, but just as clear as if it was:  “I can take care of your family.”  Of course I knew at the moment this movement in the heavens wasn’t actually happening, but I was none-the-less confident that Christ who had created it all could just as easily have physically relocated every star to make His point.

I know there are those who will read this and poo-poo it all, attribute it to lack of sleep or being asleep, or stress, or just an over-active imagination.  That’s OK, I’d be skeptical if it hadn’t happened to me.

This is the ‘loudest’ God’s spoken to me, but he continues to speak and guide.  Sometimes through scripture, sometimes through other reading or friends, and a few times lately even audibly.

I loaned my welder & generator out to someone in need to use for a short while.  After a few months I needed it back, nearly a year later he still wouldn’t return it.  As I was considering my options and had decided to contact the local sheriff and press charges, the Spirit clearly said, “let it go.”  Of the dozen voices constantly rattling around in my head, this voice was distinctly different.  It was the voice of calm authority, and I knew Who it was and so let it go.

Rom 12:20a “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.”

Deciding to follow Rom 12:20, I sent him a message (he wouldn’t answer my calls) telling him to keep the welder if he needed it.  His reaction to that (and some lies he had heard about my supposed plans to just break in and take the welder) included threats of violence to me and my boys.  As I began to write my response to the threats, that odd voice spoke up again, “be nice.”  That was the last thing in the world I wanted to be, but expecting a soft answer to turn away wrath (Prov 15:1), I deleted my initial response and tried “nice”.  That didn’t work, so the voice spoke up again, “drop it.”

I Kings 19:11, 12  The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”  Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.

I just love that passage in I Kings.  Such awesome power the Lord has, but He chose to speak in a gentle whisper, or “still, small voice.”  I think I’ll continue to listen to His gentle whisper, because I don’t want Him to have to break out the fire, earthquakes, or rock-shattering wind to get my attention.