Life is happening all around you. You are just sitting there, quietly waiting, trusting, obeying and watching. Watching for God to give you a sign, tell you what to do next. It can be frustrating, not knowing. The times of quiet or storm, where we don’t hear or see God, and are struggling to discern His will for our lives.
I have been there. In fact, looking back over my journey with the Lord, I find myself there many times. I can remember the frustration because I was so longing to move on to the next thing, get going to the next task. I knew I was not at the place where God wanted me, but I had not heard from Him on where I should go next. Yes opportunities came and went, but there I was, waiting. Waiting for the right one, the clear choice, the discernible voice, the one He had chosen for me.
God only knows we don’t want to step out on faith without a clear leading from Him. I have heard it said that a leap of faith off a cliff that God did not place before you just ends in a bloody mess. Who wants to be a tangled mess of a human being lying at the bottom of a cliff? Not I said the fly.
Now we have all heard the story of the guy during the flood that turned away the truck then the boat then the helicopter, saying to them that God would save him. Then when he inevitably gets to heaven he questiones God. Gods reply “did you not see the truck, the boat or the helicopter.”
This story is true enough, and applies in times where we are missing subtle or sometimes blatant opportunities from God. There are other times though. Times where we may miss seeing God, not because it just doesn’t feel like Him or we are just missing a subtle clue or nudge, no there are definitely other times. These are times when God is standing right in front of us, clearly Him, no disguise, no subtlety, just Him in all His glory, standing and waiting for us to understand.
There was a time like this in the Bible. It is a wonderful snippet of a well known and well loved story. Let’s set up the scene, shall we. It is a dark and stormy night, gale force winds blowing from all directions, unrelenting rains pouring from the heavens, waves crashing, first to one side of the boat, then on the other.
The disciples are tired; it has been a long day of ministry. Just when they had thought there would be rest Jesus commands them to get in the boat and go to the other side. I am sure at least one of them thought that Jesus was mad and should let them rest, the other side could wait until morning. But, trusting, they go and they find themselves in this mess.
I can imagine sitting in that boat, wondering what I had gotten myself in to. It might of even crossed their minds that Jesus was really a lunatic. If they had just waited, they would have missed all this storm stuff and been sleeping safe and dry in a nice bed. But no, they had to follow the directions of God’s son and paddle across to the other side. Mad, I am sure they were thinking. What is this accomplishing, they may have asked.
In times like this we tend to become complacent. We are so focused on our situation that we forget to be looking for God. We are so focused on what we think the solution is that we may miss the one staring us in the face. It does not have to be a storm, although many times it is. It could be a nice sunny day, sitting on the porch, enjoying a nice ice cold cup of fresh squeezed lemonade with friends. A day like any other, but God is speaking, and you are not hearing. God is there, but you are not seeing.
Jesus came to the disciples. One would think that they would be leaping for joy, jumping up and down with glee, relieved of their situation. But no, the human condition would never allow for this. So the disciples do the predictable thing, they cry out in fear. In their desperate confusion and lack of attention they mistake Jesus for a ghost.
Why, one may ask. Well, how many people have you ever seen walk on water. But Jesus was not a normal person you may say, and the disciples had seen him do many wonderful miracles. In fact, just that morning He had fed the 5,000. Yes, but hindsight is 20/20. Again I ask, have you ever seen anyone walk on water?
The point is that Jesus came to them in a new way. Now if he had just appeared in the boat, maybe they would have reacted differently. But he didn’t. Jesus walked on the stormy sea, and they freaked out.
The problem is that we get so use to the way we think God works that when he works in a different way, we not only fail to see it but if we do we mistake it for something other than Him. Many times, we even say it is of the Devil or some evil thing at work.
What we fail to understand is that God comes to each person in a way that is completely sensitive. Sensitive to the makeup of the individual, the surrounding situation, the place they are in life, the understandings of the times. Can you think of any major characters in the Bible where God came to them, spoke to them and treated them in the exact same way?
God’s communication to us is like a beautiful snowflake. It is an intricate structure of events, circumstances, opportunities, advice, wisdom and reflection that is as unique to each person and situation as a single snowflake is to the white, wintery world in which it falls.
Let’s say you had never seen a snowflake before, how would you react when you saw it, felt it, tasted it for the first time? What would you call it? Would you understand that the snowflake is really just a drop of water that has frozen in to an intricate patter of crystal structures? I highly doubt it.
Just like me, you would be dumfounded, wondering what it is. You would not realize that it is the same thing you have known and drunk all your life. You would fail to see it as the sustainer of life, quencher of thirst, cleanser of dirty things. You would not guess in a million years that it was something you used every day, just in a different form.
Do you do that with God? Do you fail to see Him staring you in the face, beckoning you to go this way or talk to that person, get involved in a new ministry or give to another organization? Has God been speaking to you while you are looking for Him? Has He been standing right in front of you, beckoning you to the water, while you sit there and ask yourself, that wasn’t God, was it?
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