To come to know the invisible God means to trust our Heavenly Parent even when the plan seems counter intuitive or counter cultural and we can’t see the final outcome. A journey with God is usually an exciting one!
It pays to be careful what you ask for because ten to one the answer will come in a package you might not expect. God has a habit of sneaking in the back door of our lives! That’s how I, a devout atheist, was led to across the Atlantic to America to finally discover an explanation of God that actually made sense to me.
You may be familiar with Proverbs 3
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And lean not on your own understanding.”
This goes against everything we usually rely on such as training, intellect, and our accustomed ways of thinking. Now, I am not advocating that you should put your brain on hold. Rather, I am pointing to a spiritual principle that you have to leave room for some divine wisdom in the mix.
A Chance to Change the World
The other day I watched the movie, Evan Almighty. Not exactly notable theater or the stuff of Shakespeare but nonetheless, slap stick funny, and deep in its own way. Like the main character, Evan Baxter, a modern day Noah, we have all kinds of plans that we want to control; then in comes God with something unexpected.
It’s important to have plans but what if God has some bigger – a better plan for you and you were so attached to your small plan that you missed a BIG opportunity.
In the movie, Evan Baxter, newly elected to Congress, promised in his campaign to “change the world.” Sound familiar? Reluctantly (at his wife’s urging), he prayed that he might be used as an agent of change. His wife, Joan, prayed for their family to grow closer together. But both ended up more than a little astonished when God actually answers their prayers in direct ways.
Have you ever had a prayer that you were surprised that God took more seriously than you did?
In Evan Almighty God gives Evan a perplexing assignment—to build an ark.
Obeying God’s Calling is Counter-Intuitive
It’s easy to advocate for change. Most of us can give a long list of venues in which we’d like to see change, and we have a pretty clear idea of the type of changes that would be best. Like Evan, we have our “plans.” And then God comes into the picture and seems to mess everything up with a very different plan that oftentimes doesn’t even make sense. In the movie Evan has to do things that seem ridiculous.
God often asks us to do something that we feel we:
• Don’t have time for. (Study God’s word or……you fill in the blank.)
• Aren’t adequate to perform. (Reach out to a friend or………..)
• Can’t see a purpose behind. (Why tithe, why pray, why save sex for marriage? or…….)
We end up asking the question, why does God’s plan for change run so counter-intuitive to our own?
God is usually working on our heart
The reality is, often God is working on our hearts. Our intellects work just fine. I am amazed at what we are capable of. Yesterday, I saw this cool invention for taking water out of the air to create drinking water in humid environments that experience little actual rain fall. We are capable of so much and yet curiously incapable.
God wants to work in our lives (if we will let Him) to strip away our pride and self-centeredness, so he can replace them with sincerity, innocence and a quiet confidence that comes from knowing who we are as God’s sons and daughters. God wants to refashion our hearts and “flood judgments” are just an extreme makeover of sorts.
Finding God in unlikely places
Scripture is full of examples of people who were called to do something that was larger than them; that didn’t make sense, and that they were innately unqualified for.
Why was Moses (introspective and with a speech impediment) called to a public showdown with Pharaoh and chosen to give God’s words to a nation?
Or, what about Noah? We often write these stories off as myths but there is growing archaeological evidence there was a cataclysmic flood in the area of the Black Sea around 5,000 years ago. The waters did indeed cover their world. The man who found the Titanic is now in search of the Ark. I don’t know whether he will find an ark but the story stands as a record of both God and man trying to cleanse a world and build a new family of man.
The Divine Principle illuminates this story in profound ways. God chose Noah, because like God, he wanted to change the world. They had that connection; they shared this same desire. Who knows how God spoke to Noah. Perhaps it was only an intuition, a nudge from within. He was true to this vision he held to build an ark on top of a mountain for 120 years. Now, that’s what I call faith! But his wife, perhaps understandably, couldn’t comprehend or respect him and that is why his children couldn’t either. Ham ended up ashamed of the man that had saved their family in a very dramatic way. It’s amazing how soon we forget or how easily we judge.
Noah’s wife doubted. We all doubt sometimes but God was trying to establish a family beyond the reach of the “fall.” God was trying to recreate the world 5,000 years ago and God is still trying to recreate our own lives today as well. God is a faithful God and S/He isn’t finished with us yet. You may be called to do something counter-intuitive, something that is beyond your confident capabilities and easy routine.
One thing I like about the movie, Evan Almighty, is that it understands that this story is not just about Noah and an ark, but is also about Noah’s wife and their family – God is fighting for a family.
In this amusing clip of the movie God reminds Evan’s wife, Joan, of her prayer to bring the family together. He gave Joan a glimpse into the bigger picture of what was happening through the building of the ark. Though God had not spoken to her directly or told her to build an ark, she had the opportunity to trust Him and her husband and to stand “side by side” with Evan, as he did what he believed God had called him to do. Joan had the opportunity to see her prayer answered – for the family to become closer, but only if she were willing to do something hugely counter-intuitive. I was happy to see she ended up achieving what Mrs. Noah couldn’t.
Counter culture
The voice of popular culture would say that Evan was crazy and needed professional help; that God does not instruct people directly; that Joan needed to focus on what was best for her sons and that she knew what that was better than Evan; that she had no reason to stand side by side with a man who was risking his career and his standing in the community.
The culture presented Joan with a very complex situation; God presented her with a simple reminder of what she really wanted in life. Deciding to follow her inner voice proved to be a wonderfully simplifying and freeing decision.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
It’s not likely that God will have you build an ark, but responding to God’s call is still radically counter-cultural. This is where you have to go with God’s word – follow your intuition – go with what you know to be right, deep down. It’s not easy. What does the world think when you announce to your friends you want to save sex for marriage? Or when you share your faith with a friend who believes differently? Does the gap between you cause you to hide who you are or not be your authentic self? What if you choose to serve in ministry over a lucrative career? Some will ridicule such decisions and misunderstand your desire to connect your life to God at the deepest level. Even within the church, others may question the wisdom or necessity of what you know is God’s unmistakable call for you.
God wants us to stand “side by side”
Just like Joan in “Evan Almighty” you discover how much you really meant your prayer when God gives you the opportunity to have it answered. What have you been praying for?
Let’s encourage each other in our brave choices and expressions of faith. I am moved by a member of Faith Fusion, Kim. He felt called to go to Oceania on a mission trip of sorts. This calling became his “ark.” It required him to take a sabbatical from his job and think outside the box. He knew he had a journey to make – and not just a physical journey but a spiritual journey. We are standing side-by-side with him.
Be faithful in little things
Sometimes we are looking for God’s “calling” to be something grand, big, and earth-shattering. We want to found a ministry, become a famous something or other, or proclaim God’s truth in a dramatic public forum. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, but as God reminded Evan, the way to change the world is not always that huge or exciting. Changing the world happens with one random act of kindness at a time. Or another way to put it is being faithful to “do the next thing” that God places before us, even if that is as mundane as cleaning up the kitchen, or as unappreciated as putting in another day of doing your best at a job you can’t stand. Go build your ark!
