How Does God Do That?

 

It never ceases to amaze me how God can show up at exactly the right time with exactly what I need. I’ve honestly lost count of the number of times when I had no answers, just to have God step in and take care of everything. It’s already happened several times this year and I still don’t know how He got me through each situation.

We tend to keep cars for a very long time. In fact, our minivan is approaching 13 years on the road. And while this saves money overall, it sometimes means dealing with major repairs when one part or another simply wears out. This year both cars needed almost identical front end suspension work. On top of that, the minivan needed tires. Then, just for added measure, my wife ran over something and punctured one of the back tires on her car. Whatever it was damaged the tire so badly that it had to be replaced, which also meant replacing the other back tire at the same time. Throw in new back brakes on the van and we were looking at a mountain of repair bills.

Funny thing about mountains, they look tiny in comparison to God and He had no problem leveling and getting rid of the mountain I was facing. Somehow, we had enough cash to cover every one of those repairs, with a large chunk of the money literally coming out of the blue. My wife was given an unexpected bonus for a job well done and it arrived in her paycheck the day before her car was scheduled to go into the shop. God provided once again and we are praising Him for taking care of us.

I still don’t know how God pulls this off time and time again, but I am sure glad that He does. I wonder what the next mountain will look like. No matter how tall, I look forward to seeing God deal with it according to His will. And just like every time before, I know I will find myself asking, “How Does God Do That?”

What You Ought to Say

 

“For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Luke 12:12

In Exodus 3:13, Moses asks God to tell him what he should say to the children of Israel upon his return to Egypt. In essence, Moses was asking God to tell him what he should do. God responds by telling Moses exactly what to say (Exodus 3:14-17). I suspect that Moses may have been afraid that the leaders of Israel would not believe him and he needed to know what to say and what to do to convince both them and the leaders of Egypt. God responded by teaching Moses what he should say.

This reminds me of what Jesus taught His disciples in Luke 12:8-12, as He prepared them to face leaders who would not quickly buy into His message of salvation. Jesus understood that anyone who was bold enough to preach His Gospel would be opening themselves up to the possibility of being attacked for their beliefs. These attacks would come from regular everyday people, and from religious leaders and government authorities. When (not if) this happened, Jesus wanted to reassure His followers that the Holy Spirit would teach them exactly what they should say, exactly when they needed to say it. This was His promise to stand with His followers in these situations.

We live in a fallen world in which people are persecuted for being followers of Christ. Here in the United States, we do not see this as much as people in other countries but eventually that kind of persecution will come to our shores, or should I say, it shall increase in occurrence. When we face questions or even persecution, be it from our neighbors or from the government, God will respond just as He did with Moses. Trust that the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you should say. Then, in full obedience, speak and let God’s words change hearts around you.

Are You Where You Should Be?

While walking with my headphones the other day I heard an ad for a career coaching service that caught my attention. The ad began with a voice that was supposed to be AI generated, describing how it had scanned several databases where it discovered that a large percentage of “humans” are unhappy in their jobs. In the past, I would be one of those unhappy humans if God had not gotten my attention and changed my approach to the daily grind.

For me, things changed when God asked a very simple question. Was I where I should be? I wanted to say no but that answer presented a bit of a problem. If I was not where I should be then either God was not in control, or I was not fully yielded to Him. Well, I knew that God was in control, so if the answer was no then it was a sign of my own rebellion. I realized that to be fully yielded to Him, I had to let Him answer the question. Fortunately, the answer was yes, I was where I should be.

But if I was where I should be, why was I unhappy? This led me to another question, or I should say God asked me another question. Was I there for the right reason? To this I had to answer a resounding, “No!”. God helped me see that my reason for being there was for the paycheck and out of fear that I could not provide for my family if I didn’t stick things out. I wasn’t there to serve God, although if you had asked, I would have told you that was the reason. I was telling myself a lie and God called me on it.

I had to humble myself and choose to trust that God would provide, no matter what. My focus moved from the paycheck to seeking Him and doing what He wants me to do. When my focus changed, I began to find fulfillment in my job. My tasks got easier and a problem coworker became less of a problem. Eventually, God moved me into a different position which is even more fulfilling than the previous one and pays more as well. But my focus is still the same and I start each workday by thanking God and asking Him what He wants me to do.

I’m not against anyone using a career coaching service but I do believe that before doing so, one should seek God. Whether or not you are happy with your job, you need to be humble before the Lord, asking Him if you are where you are supposed to be and are you there for the right reasons. Ultimately, we all should be looking to God for fulfillment and not the job or the paycheck. Ask daily and let God lead you where He wants you to go so that you can truly serve Him. Let God put you where you should be and for the right reasons.