Showing Off

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?”

Jeremiah 32:27 (NIV)

Prayer fascinates me.

Look outside for a moment as the spring season bursts in upon our world. A few short weeks ago all was dead, dreary, and dry. Now, birds are chirping, the grass and trees are green again, and vivid color is beginning to enter our world through the vast collection of flowers popping up everywhere. It’s glorious, and the one who created it all invites us as human beings to have a conversation with him through prayer.

The fact that God invites us into a conversation, however, is not what fascinates me. What fascinates me is how he chooses to respond.

Now let me be clear… I have NEVER heard the audible voice of God. That’s just not how he tends to speak, but that does not mean he doesn’t have something to say. 

God uses many avenues to talk to us, mostly his word – the Bible. My favorite means is when he uses real-life events to show his power and let his kids know that he is in fact listening and acting.

My husband Todd and I are in a season of seeking God for very specific direction on a few things. Daily, we are praying together and boldly seeking God’s wisdom and guidance. While we know God is listening and have a great peace about what we are praying for, at this point God is still silent.

Sometimes it’s easy to become discouraged when we are praying for specific things and see no movement. It can be even more difficult to continue in prayer when we feel like no one is listening. This is where I’ve found God to be incredibly creative and intentional about letting me know he is listening.

Over the years I have found, if I am paying attention, God will use seemingly insignificant things to let me know he’s listening to encourage me to keep praying for the bigger things he seems silent in answering. This very thing happened this past Sunday.

Sunday was an absolutely gorgeous day with sun and mild 70-degree temps. I was prepared to lose my husband to the yard, as the past week had been day, after day, after day of continuous gray and rain. Our grass was like a jungle and definitely needed his attention.

Late in the afternoon after several hours had passed I wandered outside to see how it was going. The yard looked amazing and Todd stood admiring it with a sense of satisfaction. He was covered head to toe in grass clippings and looked tired. It had definitely been a much bigger job than normal with all the rain and growth.

“It looks great!” I said. “Thanks, Mama,” (his name for me) he replied and then began walking over to the garage. Once inside he bent down and picked something up saying, “I found the spring I lost a few weeks ago.” 

His back was toward me and I will admit I was slightly unimpressed by him finding a spring, but I tried to appear interested. “Oh, that’s great,” I said. “When did you lose it?” 

He then began to tell me how 2 weeks ago he had been working on the weed eater. He had it all opened up and this spring that does something (hey I’m a girl and could only follow this story so closely) popped out and he couldn’t find it. Apparently, the weed eater would not work without this spring so he prayed that God would help him find it.

Fast forward 2 weeks and here we are standing in the garage talking about this.  I’m glad God helped him find the spring, but still not all that impressed - until he held out his hand.

There, in the palm of Todd’s massive hand, is this tiny spring with the thickness of coffee stir straw and not even as long as a quarter. I looked at him a bit stunned. “Are you kidding me? Where did you find it?”

His eyes widened as he spoke, “That’s the crazy part. It was just sitting there on the edge of the yard by the driveway. We’ve had 2 weeks of all this wind and rain, I just cut the jungle grass, and then I used the blower to clean off the driveway. And there it was just sitting there.”

At this point, I chuckled, “It’s almost like God was showing off!” He raised his eyebrows and chuckled as well, “Ya think?”

Now here’s the thing. I absolutely believe that God cares about the things we consider small or insignificant. Truthfully, not finding the spring would have been a financial inconvenience. However, that’s not fully why I think he answered Todd’s prayer. Through the eyes of faith, God was allowing us to see his power and sovereignty over ALL things. 

If God would show Todd where a tiny weed eater spring is after wind, rain, lawnmower blades, and blowers that have pummeled it for 2 weeks, how much more will he be faithful to show us our next steps regarding the things we are praying about?

I know God sees us and is listening to the things we are so intently praying about and when the time is right, he will act. For now, though, he gave us a glimpse of his creativity, whispering through these events… “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? ”

Absolutely not!

For Your Reflection…

Is there something in your life you think is too big for God to handle? Bring it to him in prayer, for nothing is too hard for him.