Romans 4 picks up on the story of Abraham, who was promised by God that he would be the father of many nations:16
Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so
that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who
are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all
17
(as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in
the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead
and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
There is an unseen realm where God is at work, even though we don't see what He is up to. And, as we grow in our faith, we recognize that He may be producing an answer to prayer, a divine appointment, a reminder of His presence and His faithfulness. And, we have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit to sense when He is at work and follow His direction. He is able to do beyond what we ask or think - He works in a realm that is beyond our own human understanding. So, we trust that He is there, He is for us, and He is moving to produce an outcome that brings glory to Himself and furthers the growth of His Kingdom.
Hebrews 11 lays it out very well for us - what we see around us in creation was produced out of the realm of the unseen - and our Creator God is working in that realm to produce glory for Himself, manifested in the physical:
1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2
For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.
3
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of
God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are
visible.
UPI.com reports news out of East Providence, Rhode Island, where the animal control center said that a motorist traveling
on Route 44 near Taunton, MA, slammed on the brakes of his Toyota
sedan when he saw what appeared to be a white poodle mix in the road and
continued driving when he was then unable to locate the canine, according to the local newspaper.
The driver headed on over to East Providence, and another motorist at a stoplight informed him the dog was actually wedged in the
front of his car.
William Muggle, animal control supervisor in East Providence said, "We took (the dog) to an emergency clinic, and now she's actually doing fine, crazy enough." Muggle said the dog suffered a concussion and a possible minor rupture of the bladder, which has now healed. He said his department is working with the Taunton Police Department in an attempt to identify the canine's owner.
Yes, Mr. Muggle, crazy enough, indeed. And, while I don't want to over-spiritualize this series of events, it can serve to remind us that even though we may not see it, the hand of God is at work all around us. Perhaps we have prayed for an answer, and we don't see it, nor do we even see any progress toward the fulfillment of that request. Does that mean that God has said, "no"? Maybe not. We may think that God has disappeared from the scene - we may not see the evidence of His presence, but that doesn't mean He's not there.
In the unseen realm, we can be confident that He is with us, and that perhaps there is a miracle in the mix. We may have gone on a long journey, maybe with a degree of difficulty, but we can never neglect to give God the glory and acknowledge that maybe He's up to something. We can develop our faith - realizing that it is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Don't allow yourself to believe that what we see is all there is!
No comments:
Post a Comment