He who forms the
mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to
mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the
earth—the Lord God Almighty is his name. (Amos 4:13 NIV).
In many of our spiritual struggles it often seems like our pleas
with God go unheeded. The movement of God’s Spirit, like the wind, though
unobservable, always accomplishes its intended purpose.
One day this fall the pressures of life seem to be encroaching
increasingly upon me, and God appeared to be a bit hearing impaired. The wind was blowing briskly that day, and
the leaves were swirling around. I
looked up, and I said, God you control the wind, can you not control my
circumstances. A few minutes later t in my mind's eye I imagined a conversation
between the Lord and myself. The Lord
started the conversation. He said, did you see the wind? I answered yes; I saw the leaves blowing. Curiously, He asked the same question
again. Did you see the wind? I answered yes; I saw the tree limbs
swinging. A third time the Lord started to speak, and it's as if he was saying,
listen carefully! He repeated the same question, but this time I began to get
the message. It was one of those aha moments.
When we place our petitions before God, and we don't observe
anything or the circumstances get worse, we assume that God is not answering
our prayers. Often things need to get worse before they can get better. Like the wind, the moving of God’s Spirit is
discerned by its effects, not by direct observation. The Holy Spirit can be active yet still be
unseen and silent.
.
When I questioned the Lord's management of my problems, I was
treading on shaky ground. I was saying that either he didn't care, or if he did
he was not able to do anything about it. I was questioning two of the character
traits of God, namely his goodness and his omnipotence. We are finite, and he (God) is infinite and
we with clay feet should never be judging one without any flaws.
There was one further exchange between the Lord and myself. The
Lord's final retort was, you the finite might want to be a little more careful
in talking about one who is infinite. He was very graciously saying, maybe you
shouldn't talk about what you don't understand.
My reply was short. Yes, Sir.
God hears and answers all our prayers. Sometimes he says yes or no, or more often,
wait. If he says no, he has a better
plan than the one we have requested.
Remember, the Bible tells us that we live by faith and not by sight (2
Corinthians 5: 7 NIV). When things
look the worst, God is often most at work. The Lord sees and cares. The Spirit
of God is always active on our behalf, but like the wind is in many cases
beyond the comprehension of our temporal vision.
Image used with permission by Microsoft.
Ken
Barnes the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
Podcasts: http://kensblogpodcast.blogspot.com
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