God of the Unexpected
In our culture, we like to know what we can expect. Most of our restaurants are chain restaurants now so we know what to expect. When we sit down and order, we’ve got a very good idea of what’s coming.
When we order something online not only do we expect to get what we ordered in the like-new condition, we also expect it to show up the next day due to Amazon’s innovations.
What happens when God, Creator God, the One outside of our timeline and trappings of time itself, does something we don’t expect? Do we belittle it? Do we welcome it? Are we entertained by it? Do we embrace it? I think we are, at times, too quick to judge something - labeling it right or wrong, moral or immoral, accurate or heresy, often from a distance or a place of ignorance. I just think we could use a good dose of humility in how we approach things we don’t understand - whether that’s a ministry we don’t understand or a movement we don’t understand or a miracle we don’t understand.
A few things that God did that we (humans) didn’t expect but turned out to be …well… GOD.
Jesus spit in the dirt, made mud and put it on a blind guy’s eyes. Yup, that’s strange.
God (Jesus’ Father) asked a prophet (His voice on the earth) to marry a prostitute to illustrate His undying love for His unfaithful bride. Pretty odd.
God had a giant inferno above a tent that represented His guidance and favor on certain people. Yup… strange.
Just because it’s strange doesn’t mean it isn’t God.
I’ve seen God ask an accountant to become a pastor - someone good with numbers not people.
I’ve seen God call a Dr and Ivy League teacher to the struggles of missions work - forced to learn their language and love them in their culture. Strange. Why wouldn’t God just use the man where he’s already trained and gifted? Why uproot him? Strange… but God.
I’ve seen God finally get ahold of a person’s heart and save their eternal soul after they’ve been in a temporary physical pain. Strange… but still God.
Just because you can’t explain it doesn’t mean it isn’t God.
It may very well be God because you can’t explain it. To assume that for something to be God’s doing it must be explainable by you is quite an assertion. You’re putting yourself on the same level as God. This arrogance is not recommended. Again, a dose of humility will go a long way here.
Just because you haven’t experienced it, doesn’t mean it isn’t God (or isn’t true)
Many will use this philosophy as the premise for believing spiritual gifts like healing or prophesy died with the apostles. But we don’t take that philosophy to our belief in God in any other fashion. That’s an atheist’ form of thinking. The atheist says “I haven’t personally experienced God therefore God isn’t real.” We tell the athiest that it takes faith and that if he reaches out to God, he too will then experience Him but his feelings don’t negate God’s reality. How is it that Christians today, in some circles, apply that form of thinking to the gifts and move of the Holy Spirit? It doesn’t make sense. We can’t say “If I haven’t experienced the prophetic, it isn’t true.” Or rather “Because I had a bad experience with someone who claimed to be prophetic then the prophetic isn’t a work of God on the earth now” Or “If I haven’t seen a healing then healing can’t exists” We wouldn’t apply that theology or way of thinking on other issues. Many of these same Christians have no problem believing in Christ’s second coming (a future event) without experiencing such an event. Many have no problem believing in a virgin birth (a past event) also a strange miracle, that they didn’t personally experience.
My point? Your experience and your intellect is not the measure of God’s power. God is His is own measuring stick. He can do whatever He wants whenever He wants through whomever He wants. Let’s be open to miracles - to the God of the impossible - to the God of grace who for some strange reason, decides that He, a perfect Creator, wants to work with us, broken clay vessels. Who knows how different your life would be if you started to expect the unexpected?
hint… it’d be a lot more fun.