Our Stories
Where Do You See God Working Right Now?
By Aaron Soderlund | posted 09/25/2008
"The man said to me, 'Son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for that is why you have been brought here. To tell the house of Israel everything you see.'" (Deuteronomy 40:4)
I can't tell you how many times in my life I've been asked the question, "Where do you see God showing up in your life?" And every time I've got an answer that essentially talks about where something has gone right or fallen in to place just perfectly or something. And so I figure, that's where he's shown up. I believe that to be true.
Recently, however, I've been a little more convinced that's not the complete question. While it's not a bad question, in my mind it inherently assumes that God only shows up when things are 'coming together'. I don't think that God 'shows up'. He's always there. It's just a matter if we pay enough attention to notice him or not. And most often, I don't.
I was asked the question recently in a different way. In a way that changes the question completely to me. "Where do you see God working right now?" To me, that is a question that doesn't require completion. It doesn't require things to be tidy. What it requires are eyes to see and ears to hear. And a desire to see God at work.
God is constantly at work. I believe God is at work in my life, constructing me, growing me, and shaping me. I can see it on the level of him keeping my business going in a slowing market (that's a visual piece – like 'showing up') and I also see him working on who I am with everything that I do and I can't put a finger on that.
My life right now is busier and fuller than it's ever been. I feel a bit like I've been turned upside down. And my instinct is that I need to ask God to help me out with it. Which implies that he's not already there working. But lately, I'm becoming more convinced that he may be the one turning me upside down to teach me something that I would only learn through by going through it. I have such an idea of God coming in to straighten things up and put things into place that I don't realize the possibility that he put me in the midst of these situations on purpose. He did not leave me nor forsake me (Deut. 31:8), but he knows that the person I am going to be has to go through this to become who he wants me to be. And he's preparing me for the future.
And for me, I need to constantly remember that my life, that currently seems upside down and overwhelming, is being held onto by the creator of the world. Pretty sure he's not going to drop me. And I know that he will never give me more than I can handle (1 Cor. 10:13). To me, that is very encouraging.
And so I ask you, where do you see God working right now in your life?
To respond to this message, email Aaron at aaron@windermere.com.
