No Coincidence

During the holidays it is easy to stay up a little later at night and rise a little later in the morning.  I set an alarm on my phone to ensure I do rise at an hour before the house is awake and bustling.  Eliminating these potential distractions is a big help to a sustained and focused time of prayer with God.  The scripture says a man's heart devises his way, but the LORD directs his steps (Prov. 16:9).  One way this works out daily is I set the alarm, but God wakes me up when He wants. :)

Today He woke me minutes before my alarm was to sound, and this is always lovely.  Whenever this happens I am convinced this is no coincidence, for my times are in God's hands.  After I knelt in my customary place it was a sweet time of thinking about God and affirming my appreciation for Him.  Time during prayer can rush by or feel like time stands still as a soul draws near to his Creator.  At one point I opened my eyes and noticed a flash of silver near my knee.  It was a sewing pin!  I was so grateful God caused me to notice the potential hazard and pushed it back into the classic tomato pincushion.

If I did not believe in the existence or providence of God, I could have taken credit for finding the pin myself, even as I could have been proud of my well-tuned body clock.  Yet as a follower of Jesus, it was profoundly satisfying to give all credit to where credit is due:  to the God who Created me, sustains my life in His hands, and protects me from hidden dangers.  Even if the pin pierced my knee, I could maintain confidence in my great God who allows pain.  When all is well it is quite easy to "trust" God, but it is the painful circumstances which provide a clearer indication of our genuine faith and loyalty.  Job refused to curse God and die despite the pains God sovereignty allowed, and God remains praiseworthy in times of plenty and loss, in peace and pain.

Haters of God accuse Him of great evils, but as one who knows God through divine revelation it is clear wickedness has its origin and rabid continuation in man.  Many see the spectre of God as severe, brutal, arbitrary, and delighting in the pain of others, but this reveals they are not able to see clearly.  They do not know God.  Martyrs have intentionally embraced the flames of the stake, knelt without resistance before claws and teeth of wild beasts, willingly faced imprisonment, torture, and the loss of all things rather than deny their good and glorious God.  People were offered life if they would only recant, but they wisely realised their lives were forfeit forever if they did recant.  We follow the God-Man who said on the cross, "Into your hands I commit My Spirit," Jesus Christ who rose from the dead glorified forever.  He is the Resurrection and the Life, and the reality of His life and comforts is more real than burning flame, the crushing of bones, being nailed to a cross, or being sawn in two.

We do not need to suffer as martyrs to prove our resolve, but are called to daily deny ourselves, take up our cross in obedience to Jesus, and follow Him wherever He leads.  Christianity is a continual laying down of a life which urges us to take matters into our own hands again.  God's providence, protection, and even pain He allows are not coincidences but opportunities to thank and trust God more than ever.  God uses wealth and lack to test us, and we can rejoice in our God in every season.  It is written in 1 Peter 1:6-9:  "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸ whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹ receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls."