God In the Mundane
Christmas Day is just around the corner. During this Advent season, I have been reminded of how much waiting God's people have been doing throughout history. Waiting on the Lord is a major theme in the bible and the Christian life. It is the confident, active, prayerful, patient, and hopeful anticipation that God will fulfill his promises and bring a positive outcome out of a situation.
What are we waiting on the Lord for?
There are ultimate things that God’s people are waiting for. Before Jesus’ birth, we were waiting for the Messiah’s first coming. In these last days, we await his second coming and our final redemption.
In the meantime, we also wait for the Lord to intervene in various circumstances according to his will. We wait for deliverance from a particular sin, we wait for answers to prayers, we wait for wisdom and clarity in decisions, etc. Waiting on the Lord is part of our experience on this side of heaven because God's timing and ours are often not the same. Waiting on the Lord is also an instrument of sanctification in his hands. In the waiting, he grows our faith as we experience His character in deeper and greater ways, he exposes the idols of our hearts and progressively re-orders our loves.
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.”
Sovereign in the mundane
It is most striking to me that the long-awaited Messiah came into this world through childbirth, one of the most ordinary things in the human experience. Jesus did not appear out of heaven as a 30-year-old man to start his ministry. God's Wisdom chose to work through mundane things. Yes, Jesus’s birth was nothing short of miraculous (e.g. the virgin birth) but it all happened within very regular and humble human existences. In fact, for someone not paying attention, Jesus’ birth would have seemed like any other birth in history. God worked his supernatural power in the midst of the mundane to accomplish his purposes.
Paying attention
When waiting on the Lord, are you expecting him to work in the mundane things, the things that happen every day, the things you do every day, the places you go every day, the people you speak to every day? Do you tend to think God answering prayers through mundane things isn't as awesome or powerful? Do you even recognize it as an answer to prayer? I sometimes find myself only expecting God to show up in ways that completely disrupt my everyday life. Often, I have only recognized God’s hands in a circumstance in hindsight. I failed to see his help and providence at the moment because he was working through things so very ordinary. I therefore forfeited a well of peace and joy and continued questioning whether God was even hearing me.
I know it is impossible to perceive all the ways in which God weaves circumstances together to accomplish his purposes in our lives. But I do not doubt that God can enable us to see more of it. Recognizing his providence, even in the midst of the mundane, cultivates joy, peace, and gratefulness as we await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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