I think it’s safe to assume that everyone here believes that God exists. (Why waste your time in a Sunday morning worship service if you don’t have faith that He is real?) What Christians aren’t always convinced of is the reality of God in their every day lives. For most of us God exists, but He’s way off out there in space somewhere. Maybe He intervened to bring us to salvation through Christ; perhaps He’s vaguely answered a prayer of two over the decades, but most of us don’t perceive that He’s up to anything in the ordinary moments and days of our lives.
Most Christians in America think and live like deists. Deists believe that God made the world and everything in it, but He wound the universe up like an old clock and stepped back to let it run according to the natural laws He put in place. We don’t expect to encounter God on a daily basis. We don’t perceive that He’s active at all in what’s happening around us. As a result, we order our lives like everyone else. Our hope for the next life is with God in heaven, but our trust in this life is with human wisdom and ingenuity.
Most Christians approach life as spiritual schizophrenics. We don’t perceive God doing anything in our lives, so, other than an occasional prayer, we conduct ourselves as if He doesn’t really exist, though in our heads we believe He does. Then we read the Bible and find that He’s active everywhere and all the time. He is providentially moving history in a specific direction. He has determined our days and sees to the most minute details of our lives. We come to church and say that it’s true, then we go back out the door and live as if it’s not. We have to develop a split personality to uphold our faith and still live in the real world. I’m convinced that this is why more and more people in our nation want to shut God into the church building and not allow Him into every corner of our lives.
The problem is not with God. He is not distant from us. He is near. He’s not passively watching. He’s actively involved right down to the smallest detail. The problem is with us. We have not learned to see God. For the most part, we’re stuck in our culture’s worldview that the material universe is all there is. You can tell we’re trapped in this mindset because we live as if the only things that are real are what we can discern with our senses.
The problem is that we have forgotten how to see God. Yes, I realize that God is spirit. He is personally invisible to the physical human eye. But He has given us the capacity to detect His obvious fingerprints. We have to re-learn how to see His activity in our lives and in the lives of those around us. It’s important to be able to do this because you can’t live a fully obedient life while oblivious to what the Lord is doing. You will miss out in the incredible journey that He invites each of His children into. You could fail to receive a gift or blessing God has for you because you weren’t paying attention.
Genesis 24 provides a wonderful picture of people detecting God’s fingerprints and then receiving all that He intended them to have. Let me ask you, how many times did God make an appearance in the story? None. There were no visions, no voices, nothing. However God’s name was mentioned 17 times. That’s the author’s way of telling the reader, “God is all over this, but you can’t see Him.” The players in this story picked up God’s fingerprints and they became a part of His grand cosmic drama.
I want to tell you that you can do the same. What it takes is learning to see with spiritual eyes. When you make this your practice, you too can join on an incredible journey, no matter what your age or stage of life.
How to Collect the CLUEs of an Invisible God
My four point are all based on the word “CLUE.” The first step is to …
Cultivate an openness to receive and respond
If you’re not open to God being active and real in your life, go ahead and tune out now. Shift your brain into neutral, put in the ear buds, take a snooze. You must begin with the conviction that God wants to lead you somewhere and follow through by going after whatever He reveals.
This was the case with Abraham’s servant. He’d watched Abraham walk with God for years, but probably felt himself inadequate for the task. He was just a regular guy. Actually he had less to be confident about than a regular guy because he was a slave, at the bottom of the social ladder. The odds were stacked against him humanly speaking. It had been more than 60 years since Abraham left Mesopotamia. It’s likely that this servant had never been there or met any of Abraham’s relatives. How was he supposed to obtain a bride for Isaac from that specific family?
He had nothing going for him except this: an openness to receive and respond. He made a commitment to follow the agenda of Abraham’s God. He wasn’t clear on what would be involved, but he made the decision to respond to whatever he received from the Lord.
That’s where we have to start too. Spiritually we’re as blind as bats, but the first step is to say “Here I am. Have your way Lord. I will go where you send me.” This should be a daily practice for the Christian. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray He began: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” To pray that part of the Lord’s Prayer is a commitment to receive and respond to God. It’s like opening your arms to heaven and enthusiastically declaring, “Whatever, Lord. Whatever!”
We must have our eyes open each day – even on vacation, even on the weekend, even in traffic. We must expectantly invite Christ to lead us and join Him when He makes the next step clear.
This attitude even works for people who haven’t yet come to faith. As an unbeliever I checked out numerous other religions and ended up frustrated. One day I just kind of tossed my hands into the air and said, “God, whoever You are, show me.” I was open and, after a couple years, and several people God sent my way, I came to faith in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation.
Linger over unexplained and unexpected thoughts
Theologians have a problem with the servant’s prayer at the well. He practiced something called an oracle, where you force God into a corner to give you a “yes” or “no” answer. He quite unexpectedly asked God to reveal the girl Isaac should marry by causing her to not only give him a drink but to single-handedly water his thirsty camels who could collectively consume 250 gallons of water. It would have take someone 80 to 100 trips from the well to the trough to accomplish such a feat.
This would have given him a clear sign, but theologians caution against this approach. Why? Satan tempted Jesus to use the oracle method. He said, “If You really are the Son of God, jump off the highest point of the temple and make God send His angels to keep you from dashing your feet against the rocks below.” Jesus rebuked Satan and said, “Don’t test the LORD your God.” Never ever attempt to force God’s hand.
I think something a bit different was going on with Abraham’s servant. The text doesn’t say this, but my guess is that God placed the idea in his mind. It was, after all, an outrageous request. The thought was unexpected and unexplained. Maybe the servant discerned it as sent from God. Of course God confirmed it because before he could say “amen” the lovely Rebekah came into view. And, of course, she fulfilled the request, going against human nature with enthusiasm. She ran to fetch the water. What a woman!
I’m convinced that God speaks to us a lot, but we just don’t perceive His voice because it’s not audible. Think about how communication works for a moment. What happens when someone speaks to you and you’re really listening? Their words change your thought patterns. You begin to think of things that weren’t previously in your mind. Let’s experiment. Listen closely. “Oprah Winfrey is an extremely generous person.” How many of you were thinking about Oprah before I said that? When I communicated with you and you were listening a new thought pattern emerged. Apply this principle to God. He tends not to speak to us audibly, but inwardly. He’ll speak through the Bible, but also directly by changing our thought patterns and moving them in a different direction. Sometimes you can detect it because the thought is unexplained and unexpected. It just kind of appeared out of nowhere.
If you’ll pay attention, you’ll begin to notice this regularly. The Bible is God’s primary way of influencing our thoughts. It’s essential to read it daily so that your mind will be renewed daily as Romans 12 calls us to do. God also speaks beyond the Bible.
Laura felt a great sense of freedom when our kids were both finally in school. I’d talked about homeschooling, but never pushed it because a reluctant homeschool mom is not a good thing. Then by Drake’s third grade year, Laura had the thoughts and desire to homeschool. We were both relieved when our kids passed through the baby phase. This past Wednesday I sat next to Laura as she explained to an adoption counselor the desire God had placed on her heart to take an infant into our home. These thoughts were unexpected and unexplained. We should have two incomes to save for our children’s college and our retirement. But God keeps communicating a radically different message.
Linger over those unexplained and unexpected thoughts. They might be God speaking to you. Ask God open ended questions and be quiet for a moment. Listen to the thought that comes next. There have been times when we’ve lost things in our home. I’d stop and ask God to show me where it was and on more than one occasion I’d get a mental image, go to that place, and there it was. If someone is on your mind investigate why. Maybe God put them there. If you get the irrational urge to do a kind or loving deep, go for it. It may be God calling you to minister to someone’s need.
Underline coincidences and odd circumstances
In the story, the servant was nearly convinced that Rebekah was the one for Isaac. Only one more piece was needed for the puzzle to be complete. What a coincidence! Not only did Rebekah agree to extraordinary hospitality, she just happened to be the daughter of Abraham’s nephew. She was an answer to prayer and perfectly met the criteria of Abraham. What are the odds that it could happen this way? The servant knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this was God’s doing. His appropriate response: fall down and worship. I bet he was a lot like us. He’d probably never noticed God’s fingerprints until this journey. Now his perspective on life and his faith were completely changed.
When you’re walking around, living your ordinary life, underline those coincidences and odd circumstances. Someone once said that a coincidence is when God acts anonymously. That has to be true. If God is really in control is there any such thing as luck or coincidence? If He wound the universe up, stepped out, and then let it run there’s the possibility or randomness and chance, but if He’s directing history to its appointed end, there is no such thing. Pay attention to those coincidences and odd circumstances.
Some of you know my testimony so I won’t go into all the ins and outs. Suffice it to say that God sent an unlikely evangelist into my life when I was attending UNCG. To that point I was a racist, homophobic, practically-minded guy. Naturally God sent a black, effeminate, Pentecostal to speak to me a the exact time I was searching. I tried my best to avoid that guy. No matter what corner of the campus I’d try to hide in, he’d just happened to find me and share his faith with me. I am positive that God arranged all those meetings until I finally came to faith.
Be alert to coincidences and odd circumstances. Underline them when they occur. You can’t always figure out what God’s up to, but you can ask Him what’s up and be open to His leading.
Evaluate and embrace a reliable witness
The servant wasn’t the only person whose eyes were opened to the fingerprints of God. Rebekah also had a spiritual awakening. The servants told the story of God’s guidance and asked if he could take Rebekah back as Isaac’s bride. He father and brother, following that culture’s customs, agreed immediately because of the servant’s witness. (The gold probably helped too.) Rebekah really had no choice to this point.
The next day when the servant set out to leave, Rebekah’s family wanted to stall. The reason was that they wanted to check out the credibility of the story. It was customary in that day to take several days or years to check out the prospective groom’s family. The servant did not wish be detained, so the decision was left to Rebekah. Was she willing to risk her life on the story of this servant? Were his promises of a good husband and rich inheritance true? Was God’s hand really on this decision? After evaluating the testimony of the witnessed, Rebekah, by faith, embrace it all. She took the servant at his word because she too could see the fingerprints of God all over this story. Rebekah took the risk, the plunge into the unknown. And she was not disappointed.
Rebekah evaluated and then embrace the reliable witness God sent and joined God in His plan for human history. She married Isaac and took her place as the new matriarch of God’s chosen nation.
Rebekah’s life completely changed because she learned how to collect the clues of an invisible God. In just a few days time she made the transition from pagan to follower of the living God. God gave her the knowledge she needed. He provided observable evidence. But her life did not change until she took the step of faith. She had to act on the clues God laid down.
All the great police and detective shows work this way. The search for clues, examine the evidence, and, in the final ten minutes, they act and make the arrest. The circle is not complete, justice is not served, nothing changes until they act. But when they act, everything changes.
INVITATION TO ACT ON THE CLUES TO SALVATION
