Ronnie McBrayer

by Ronnie McBrayer

Last week my son asked me a profound theological question: “Why did God make stinging bugs?” Stumped, I told him to talk directly to God about it. Pausing for just a moment to consider my inadequate answer, he countered, “You know I can’t talk to God; I’m not even dead yet!” In my son’s literal but complex eight-year-old mind, prayer does not qualify as “talking to God.” Thus, his many and variegated questions about the mysteries of the universe, the meaning of life, and the purpose of wasps and biting flies, will have to wait.

Truth be told, my son’s conclusion about “talking to God,” and more pertinent, God talking to us, is the conclusion most of us have. God doesn’t really talk to people, does he? And those mystical types who routinely say things like, “God spoke to me” or “I heard God say,” are we to take them seriously, or should they be scheduled for a mental health examination?

God gets blamed for a whole lot of the kookiness in this world, but this aside, I still believe God speaks. Now, I don’t believe God’s instructions ever include harming others, doing evil, or committing violence. Such voices are patently inconsistent with the way and person of Christ. And no, I don’t think God’s voice arrives in our inboxes as an unalterable blueprint for life. Besides, if God did speak that clearly (and maybe he does), most of us would miss it anyway (maybe we have), for it seems God prefers communicating through quiet and stillness rather than through the pyrotechnics of signs and wonders.

It’s summed up by Dan Rather’s magnificent interview of Mother Teresa more than twenty years ago. Paraphrasing, he famously asked her, “What do you say to God when you pray?” She offered him a simple answer, “I don’t say anything. I just listen.” Rather then asked the obvious follow-up question: “Well, what does God say?” Mother Teresa gave Rather that crooked little smile of hers and said, “God doesn’t say anything either. He just listens.”

A great deal of religion, I fear, is built upon the desire for divine fireworks, megaphoned and crystal clear answers, God showing himself in flamboyant and undeniable style. Yet, God only requires the quiet and silent heart to quietly speak. Getting quiet will do more to sharpen one’s perception of God than all the religious gymnastics in the world.

Ronnie McBrayer is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and author. His books include “Leaving Religion, Following Jesus” and “The Jesus Tribe.” Visit his website at www.ronniemcbrayer.net.

Pastor Jim Alblas
Pioneer Christian Reformed Church
3110 17 Mile Rd, Cedar Springs

I’ve started to notice here in Cedar Springs that there are certain signs that have started to appear all over town, and maybe you have seen them, too. I’ve generally seen them at main intersections but they appear in other places as well. The signs are usually bright colored and often have just two things on them; a symbol and a word. The symbol is an arrow and the word is “Sale.” Obviously, I’m talking about garage sale signs. Garage Sales, Lawn Sales, Yard Sales, whatever you want to call them, their popping up all over town.  When it comes to garage sale signs many people become like human radars. We can spot them from a mile away and our eyes become like eagles looking at the details of the sign. “That one’s a Barn Sale!”  “This one’s a Rummage Sale!” “And look, a multi-family sale!!”  There’s something about garage sales that many people love. Finding a treasure at a low price is always enticing. I think my mother-in-law really started to like me when she found out that I like garage sales just like her. She even said I was her favorite son in law…although I’m her only son in law.  And not only do these garage sale signs point us in the direction of good deals, but they usually indicate that winter won’t be coming back for a while. And so we love garage sales and we love noticing those garage sale signs.
In the same way, when we think about God, we come to realize how much it is that he notices us. We are on His radar, His eyes are like a hawk’s fixated on us. Sometimes when we have something on our mind or if we are driving a little too quickly, we may miss one of those garage sale signs, but God never misses what we are doing. And sometimes we may see a garage sale sign, but decide we aren’t interested in checking it out, but God is always interested in us. My favorite Psalm to read that describes how God is watching us is in Psalm 121. There we find out that not only does He notice us, but He cares about us. It’s a passage loaded with the many ways that God watches and watches over us.  It says He never slumbers or sleeps; He is always on the job looking out for us. It says He watches over our life; from the womb to the tomb, God has His eyes on us. It says He’s our shade at our right hand; when life gets troublesome, He protects us. And it says He won’t let our foot slip; which doesn’t mean we won’t ever get hurt, but that we are never out of His grasp. When we think about that, we realize that God is watching us very carefully, He is very concerned about us and that is encouraging.
But I think when we realize that, we must also realize another thing. Just as God watches us, we too, must watch God. We need to be on the lookout for what God is doing in this town, country and world. By looking to see what God is doing, we learn more about who He is and we can better join in with what He is doing.  But the key is that we must keep our eyes on God with the same intensity that God keeps His eyes on us. Remember Psalm 121, He watches us intently! How have we been watching what God is doing?  Are we reading His word daily, to see what He has done in the past and what He desires for us today? Are we looking at what God is doing right now in the lives of people around us and around the world? Are we keeping an eye out for what God will do next? Or are we just keeping an eye out for those garage sale signs?
In a society where we have up to the minute knowledge on sports scores, grocery store sales and facebook statuses, are we up to the minute on what God is doing? My word of encouragement to you is that when we are watching what God is doing, we find some wonderful blessings. We can be a benefit to others when we know what God is doing in their lives, because we can come alongside that work. We can benefit ourselves because when we are watching God we will notice things we hadn’t noticed before and they will bring us joy. And when we are watching God closely, we become closer to Him. Deuteronomy 4:29 says, “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Let’s keep our eyes on the Lord!

Pastor Chad Wight
chad@thejourneychurch.net

Climbing a deep ravine to the large oak tree at the forest’s edge near my boyhood home, I stood at the gateway to a 9-year-old boy’s most amazing adventures. The acres of woods before me were wildly entrancing as the terrain and corresponding “dangers” were unique in every direction. From sunrise to sunset, from hideouts to creek beds, no two days were the same.
Engaging God the Creator, who on a Tuesday of the first week plastered the earth with forests and firmament, has proven to be equally unpredictable, challenging, and at times “dangerous.” Childhood is long gone for me, and it seems with each passing day I have more questions than answers. Every attempt to make God merely a favorite “hide-out,” of sorts, has led only to arid familiarity; and you know what is said of “familiarity.”
A close companion of Jesus wrote about a woman named Mary who stood sadly in a cemetery that first Easter Sunday (John 20). Seeing a man whom she thought was the local gardener, upon hearing His voice she lunged for her Savior. Jesus’ response may have surprised her when, in effect, he said, “Stop holding on to me. There’s a new way to know me that’s different from what you’ve experienced thus far. You must let me go for I must move on.”
Christian author and speaker Frank Viola best explains the principle in all this in his article “A Vanishing God.” You cannot cling to the Christ you know today because He will vanish from your midst. Christ is an elusive Lover, and seeking Him is a progressive engagement that never ends. While we all wish to cling tightly to the One whom we know now, or the Christ who has been revealed to us today, the harder we try to hold on the more elusive He will be. I have noticed this in my own life. Jesus woos us one way, but that season eventually ends, and just when we think we’ve laid hold of Him He slips out of our grasp. He will then reappear, and most likely as a stranger (Luke 24). Only by looking and listening closely will we discover that He’s no stranger at all.
We often cling to the Christ we know by accepting only those who talk our language, participate in our religious forms, and share our ideas—and all along we end up turning away Jesus Himself. But then He returns to us in a way we do not expect, through people we’re prone to ignore and inclined to write off for a myriad of arrogant, religious reasons. Unfortunately, if we fail to receive Him in those unexpected ways, He moves on and the revelation we can have of him ceases to grow.
In drawing close to God, we are always standing at the edge of something much too deep. Jesus Christ is richer, larger, and more glorious than any of us could ever imagine, and ironically He comes to us in ways that make it tempting to reject Him. He will always break free from our frail attempts to pin Him down, box Him up, hold Him in place, and play Him safe.
This ought to make us think about how God goes about His plans in this world, for every day is a new day, and there is a God who wants to be known.