Thought for Today

2 Samuel 7:27 For you, O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, 'I will build you a house'; therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.  

Micah 3:6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;  

Luke 2:32 light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Romans 16:25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages

This April morning, as I look out the window behind my computer at the field east of our home, I’m wondering, “Where do you find God?” Where do you seek to find the hand of God, the voice of God?

In seminary, they taught us about General Revelation and Special Revelation, God’s self-revealing in Creation itself and God’s self-revealing at special times and places to particular people. Where do you find God?

Every year at this time, I am overwhelmed by the General Revelation of our Creator God as the earth awakens from its winter respite. Both of the apple trees outside the window are leafing out. The daffodils have come up and are in bloom. Our dogwoods and crab apples are showing the first leaves sprouting out as are our maples. Birds have returned and are soaring in the sky and singing in the trees.

Our earliest ancestors-in-the-faith found God in the stories they told around their nomadic campfires at night. They ultimately accumulated and recorded those stories in the Creation Story in the first 3 chapters of Genesis. The Bible is usually considered a form of Special Revelation.

Later ancestors found God in the words and stories of the Patriarchs, Prophets and priests. Famously, Elijah found God in “1 Kings 19:12 a sound of sheer silence.” Luke tells us that Simeon found his revelation of God when the “Luke 2:27 when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law.” Where do you find God today?”

Sometimes, when I read the newspaper or hear the news on television, I cannot help but wonder whether God is no longer there. “Friedrich Nietzsche first introduced the phrase ‘God is dead’ in his 1882 work The Gay Science . . . as a metaphorical statement about the decline of Christian belief and the moral framework it provided in Western Civilization, rather than a literal claim about a deity’s death.” (Copilot Search) "’Is God Dead?’ was an April 8, 1966, cover story for the news magazine Time.” (en.wikipedia.org) Admittedly, it is still easy to ponder the question on some days.

But, this morning, as I look out my windows, I know that our Creator God is still alive, is still self-revealing and is still present in my life and in the lives of all those who search for God’s presence. So, where are we to find God?

I do find God in our flower beds, bursting forth in new life. I find God in all of those sprouting trees and budding flowers. I find God in the crisp morning air and the clear blue skies above me. And, always, in every season and every time of every day, I find God in prayer.

Our new next-door neighbors recently installed a combination swing, slide, ladder in their back yard. I find God in the delightful squeals of their young daughter every time they bring her out to play on these beautiful spring days. She shouts out “Higher! Higher!” and laughs in glee. How can anyone not find God in the laughter of a young child.

I also find God when I remember the words of Robert Browning to his wife in his poem Rabbi Ben Ezra. “Grow old along with me!/The best is yet to be,/The last of life, for which the first was made:/Our times are in His hand/Who saith ‘A whole I planned,/Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!’''

This morning, I hear God calling out to me to grow old with God, to continue this delightful journey with our Creator God, to relish the awakening of the earth from its winter rest.

Stay safe, walk humbly with God, trust God,

Pastor Ray