Looking for God in all the wrong places

I was reading the Bible the other day – a dangerous task but something I try to do daily, and I recognized that the Bible is full of stories of God at work in the world. God is reported to be very active in the pages of Scripture. In fact, God is often at work in unexpected ways, using all different kinds of people and means to work in the world.

As a person of faith in Jesus, I believe that God is still at work in the world. But in the hum drum of life, I think I often fail to recognize God’s work. I forget to look for it and appreciate it and be grateful for it. So, I tried to think of how God is working in unexpected ways or places in my life. When did a stranger show me unexpected kindness? Where did I see God in the middle of tragedy? I thought for a while, but it wasn’t that easy. It was difficult for me to figure out where God is and what God is doing! Is this or that God’s work, or human’s work? Are humans at fault here or there, or is God responsible? What is God doing? Iraq, economy, elections, etc? What’s going on? Where is God in all of it?

In the middle of all this thinking I was doing, I saw two things in the same day: a beautiful three-hour old baby girl and a serene sunset over the river. Both sweet and pleasant surprises. Perhaps I was thinking too hard or too grandiose. Or I was thinking and not looking.

When we do look up at the world around us and start to recognize the activity of God, our faith grows – we can trust that God is active. Our hope grows – we are encouraged that God is working things together. Our love grows – we love the one who is acting with love for us all the time.