This morning in my prayer time, I asked God to show me what He wanted me to do today. Then a thought came to me, “Does God really care how I spend my time today?”
Afterward, I was doing the dishes and working around the house listening to TBN on television. I finished up and was getting ready to shower. I knew I would not be able to hear the television in the bathroom so I usually schedule my shower around programs that I don’t mind missing. As I grabbed my towel I heard Pastor Robert Morris’s voice and realized The Blessed Life was about to start, so I put off my shower for another half hour and sat down to listen. Robert’s topic was on ‘Hearing God ‘ – how could I pass that up?
After that, I picked up my towel again and headed for the bathroom only to hear the unmistakable music that I knew only too well to be the intro to “Restoring the Shack” with William Paul Young. “Well, what’s another thirty minutes,” I reasoned.
At the end of Paul’s program, I realized exactly what God wanted me to do today (share Robert’s and Paul’s subject matter on my blog). It instantly came to me when Paul said…”Are coincidences really coincidences…or God?” And his subject matter had been about finding God in the details of our lives…more specifically, he asked the question, “Is God interested in/involved in the details of our ordinary, everyday lives?”
There is a verse in the Bible that I’ve always tried live by (but, at the same time, I was not sure how far to take it); here it is in the Amplified Bible version:
Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.
I realized that God ‘had’ just intervened in my day – He had impressed on me to listen to Robert and to Paul. And because I acknowledged those promptings as potentially being Him speaking to me and obeyed them, He had made clear His direction for what He wanted me to accomplish today.
As thrilling as that is, it’s not that hard to believe that when we seek Him in kingdom matters that He will answer. But, let’s dig a little deeper. What about the ordinary?…the ordinary, every day, even carnal things that don’t really amount to a hill of beans where the kingdom is concerned, but matter only to us?
I want to share an encounter with God I had a few years ago that I have never forgotten. I had stopped at CVS on my way home from work. As I reached to open the car door the Holy Spirit began to speak to me. Here is how that conversation between me and the Holy Spirit went:
Holy Spirit: “Wait… turn on the radio.”
Me: I’m thinking, “what…was that You Lord?”
Holy Spirit: …”turn the radio on, they are playing a song by Third Day.”
NOTE: Third Day is my absolute favorite Contemporary Christian group.
Me (nonchalantly): “Yes, I know…Third Day has a new song out and they play it all the time.”
Holy Spirit: “It’s not the new song.”
Me: “OK…(is that really You Lord?)”
Hesitantly, I reached up and turned the radio on.
To my surprise, one of the first Third Day songs that I had ever heard was playing (the very song that had earned them the unchallenged status of becoming my favorite band) – the chilling lyrics of “Show me Your glory” flooded my car as I sat there, open-mouthed and dumbfounded. I had not heard them play that song in years.
Holy Spirit: “See, I told you it was not the new song.”
This was the first and only time that I’ve actually experienced an ongoing conversation with the Holy Spirit. The whole conversation took place in my spirit – no audible voices… only thoughts and counter-thoughts in the quiet recesses of my own heart. But, this encounter was completely abrupt – I had not had any special or exceptional communion with the Lord that day (I had not prayed for hours on end; I had not done anything unusual to warrant such favor)…it was just a day like any other – nothing special… ordinary!
The reason I tell this story is to make the point that God delights to be involved in the details of our lives. What made this day different was that I had not ‘invited’ Him to speak to me (my mind was focused on what I needed to pick up at CVS; It had been a busy day and I had not been particularly attentive to Him).
So, if God will do that, then…’how much more’ willing will He be to speak to us when we ask and invite Him into our ordinary days (even about things that have nothing whatsoever to do with the kingdom)?
Lately, I have been focused on ‘asking and inviting’ Him into everything. Just the other day, I went to Hobby Lobby in an attempt to find a small table that would fit in an odd space in the corner of my bedroom. It had to be specific in size (width and height) and I wanted a particular color of wood.
As I was driving to Kingsport, I prayed for the Lord to bless my efforts. I continued to pray as I wandered around the store –I checked the furniture in the corner of the store and found a few promising options; I checked the furniture in the front of the store which resulted in one potential possibility. As I searched, I continued to pray and tell the Lord what I thought about each one. Finally, it was time to make a decision.
I said, “Lord, I need to make a decision. I have looked at several tables that might work, but I’m not especially impressed with any of them – is there is another option in this store that I have missed?”
I continued, “I know that many times I tend to ‘settle’ for something less than what I really want, but I know that when You bless something, it will be just right.”
Well, just then, I remembered that there is a section toward the back of the store in the center where they also keep a furniture display. I had completely forgotten about that section. I made my way to that area, thinking, “…was that You Lord?” Then, I saw it… it was exactly the right size (height and width), the right color, and for an added bonus it actually matched in design to another piece of furniture that I had bought there previously. It was perfect…it was God!!!
So, the point of my message is this: If God wants me to hear my favorite song on the radio…if God cares about helping me find just the right corner table, then He cares and wants to be involved and invited into every area of my life.
To press on a little further, if He cares about the little things that don’t matter much in the vast scope of eternity, how much more does He want to lead us and help us find our way through the crooked places, the valleys and the winding paths we face each day in our journey to Him.
