Extraordinary Benefits of Humbling Yourself To God
It’s early…I was going to look again and try to find my missing $1200 cashier’s check, which I lost a week ago.
Right as I was about to begin searching for it, I saw an amazing picture of a flower mantis…and felt I should write a post tied to it.
I did and uploaded it. Just as I was about to begin again the torturous task of looking for the check, I realized I needed some cream for my dry heel. I checked my new nightstand next to my bed; it wasn’t there. Then, it dawned on me that it could be still in my old nightstand. I forgot that I never cleaned out the drawer all the way. I looked in the other drawer. Guess what greeted me. The lotion…and, yep, the check.
God Showing Up
Have you ever had God help you find something you lost? Have you ever found it in a way that you knew it was God showing up?
I know a person who lost the diamond in her wedding ring. She looked for hours, including combing through a huge shag carpet. No luck. Completely discouraged, she walked outside and sat on the stairs not far from her front door. Feeling totally at a loss about what to do next, she, with her elbows on her knees, folded her hands and hung her head on them. She looked down. There was her diamond! One foot from her eyes. Hidden on her rock-embedded sidewalk. Crazy!
God showed up.
Unexpected Post Benefits
I was in Texas last week when I noticed the check was missing. My flight took me back to California, where I began searching for that check. No luck. On and off for 4 days, I’ve been wondering what to do. It was a cashier’s check; not easily replaced…maybe not replaceable for all I knew.
Just as I was about to thoroughly search one last time, an idea came for a post. I wrote it. One line about a picture of a beautiful nudibranch sea snail was, “The nudibranch is “like a beautiful shell, beautiful feather or beautiful pine cone. It’s a message from God to us: I love you, I care about you.”
After posting, I sat for a moment, trying to figure out how to search for my missing check. Right then, I thought about my dry heel. I went to the old drawer, and, surprise, surprise, there was the check.
The timing took me back. My mind went back to the words, “I care about you.” I raised my hands and whispered with emotion, “Thank you.”
Last night, Renita and I read, “Sometimes God reveals something that can only be revealed by the Spirit of God.” I know my check-finding is a little thing, but I’ve been around the block long enough with God to know that God is incredibly in the details.
One Wildly Significant Sentence
My whole life was changed by one sentence.
While writing a note, I wrestled with whether or not to include one sentence that could be misconstrued. I wrestled with it so much that I paused sending the note for hours. Then I realized the sentence could greatly help the person I was sending the note to. I decided it was worth the risk of being sizably misunderstood.
That sentence was the most important sentence I’ve ever written. It changed my whole life and brought blessing to me and to others that staggered me.
I know God is deeply involved in details. It’s how he governs the universe.
One Unbelievably Important 100 trillionth of a Second
The molecule chlorophyll is found in leaves, bark, and other places. It acts as a capacitor; It gathers and stores four photons of light. It takes one femtosecond–one hundred trillionth of a second to do this! Speedy! It then releases the accumulated photon burst like a laser on a precisely positioned water molecule and splits it. It takes us over 2700ºF of heat to do this. Plants do it at room temperature…and all of life on earth is dependent on that God-engineered femtosecond.
God is in the details; He’s an incredible master of them.
Mordecai was sitting in just the right place at just the right time. He overheard a conversation. THIS conversation saved him, Esther and the entire nation. God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases, and sometimes He pulls it off by the tiniest detail. And that tiny detail had a staggering effect.
What’s the take-home?
2 Chronicles 7:14 reads, “If my people will humble themselves…”. Part of the humbling is keeping it front and center that I don’t control anything…not for myself or for others. We need to walk with this wisdom: “O God, I need You every minute. Please show me all the ways I need to walk today.
This leads to a holy, wild, God-adventure-filled life. Paul knew this. It orchestrated his lunch-bringer overhearing a few sentences, which saved Paul’s life and his future work and writing. It brought about him having the ride of his life–while a prisoner–enjoying a cushy horse mount while surrounded by 470 of Caesar’s Romans– all armed to the teeth to make sure he arrived where he needed to go in the best of shape. Wonder if he got drinks and cookies along the way.
You can bet Paul was completely blown away by that move of God. It probably put a huge smile on his face as he wrote, “God is able to do exceeding, abundantly beyond all we ask or think.”
Speak Lord. Guide Lord.
Walk humbly today– every new hour. Say, “Speak Lord” as Samuel did, and “Guide me, my Father,” as David and Jesus did.
And slow down so you can catch His whispered promptings.
To humbly get into God’s rhythm as Jesus was involves a happy slowing down, smiling, and enjoying moments and others more–just like Jesus did. It involves shelving some–or maybe all– of our hurriedness. Jesus’ two-day stroll led to quite a happy–and astonishing– Lazarus re-get-together. He heard right, partly because He maintained a God-directed calm and peaceful people and God-oriented pace.
Walk humbly; it’s an adventure like no other.
