Our lives are made up of moments. Its the mundane, the small things of our lives that day by day and year by year build up to be our lives. When I was young I remember that I used to imagine life would be made up of one grand adventure after another, and it is, well sort of. See I've found that even in adventurous seasons of life, the mundane is present. I've been on grand adventurers traveling to exotic places in search of God and had, well, some pretty boring days along the way. The older I become the more I realize that its the small things built up brick by brick that shape our lives and who we are.
So often in the Christian life we imagine that God is somehow more present in the dramatic, in the adventure; but, God is not ever distant. Our Father is close by in every moment of our lives. This realization important and can change how we live our lives; because, if God is somehow more present in the dramatic, in the public displays, in the conferences, then we will live our lives in response to that belief. We will live our lives more attentive to the Lord in public when dramatic things occur and subtly will adopt a performance mentality. We will put on a show, live ways in public that we don't in private and slowly perversion of many sorts can enter into our lives and ministry.
Now I'm not saying that God isn't somehow present in the big events of our lives. But what I am saying is that He's always present and to treat some moments as somehow holier can be a detriment to the church. Because of the indwelling power of the Spirit in our lives every moment is holy even if we can see God more evident in particular times and places. An Old Testament passage makes the point like this:
The Lord said, “'Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before theLord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lordwas not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper” (2 Chron. 19).
Elijah set out to hear God but what he found wasn't what he expected. Even then, the natural expectation was that God would appear in the loud dramatic occurrences of life but God showed himself to Elijah in a whisper. In our lives today it is so tempting to do the same. God is looking for those who will give him everything – including the small moments of our day. Church services and conferences are a vital part of the church's ministry but God wants to whisper to us in our hearts. In the secret place where no one can see except Him, He wants to take your burdens, to meet with you.
No one may see what we do in our cars, our bedrooms, our offices but the Lord knows us intimately. He is waiting to meet with us in the secret place. So come to Him today, when no one else is looking, and hear him whisper.
Author John Bush, 2/15/13, http://on.fb.me/XOBDSR