When God Shows Up

I remember many years ago, when Louise and I had
moved away from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for only 18 months, we came back and
found that Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church had been started. Before we went
away, it had been a vacant lot with a big sign on it that read, “Future home of
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.” That sign just stayed there month after month
for a couple years. We wondered: What is happening here? When will that
church start?

When we came back, the church had started, and it was
the talk of the town. D. James Kennedy, who was the architect of what is now
known as Evangelism Explosion, was using this evangelism method in Fort
Lauderdale.

I have to say I was one of Kennedy’s greatest critics. I
thought that Evangelism Explosion (EE) was not of God. It took two to three
years for me to climb down and see that EE really was of God. But I couldn’t see
it at the time. I had theological biases; I had other instincts, and I went by
them.

Perhaps you can think of a similar experience when something came
up that at first you thought God simply wasn’t in. Then later, like Jacob, you
had to say, “The Lord was in this place. I didn’t know it. I wasn’t aware of
it.” Let’s not think ourselves so spiritual that we are sure we couldn’t
possibly miss the Lord’s presence. Our very biases may keep us from seeing the
Lord when He appears.

Let’s reflect on the possibility that God has
appeared and we don’t see Him, even though we may have been praying for Him to
come. He answers our prayer but we can’t believe it, either because our unbelief
is too great or because our prejudices overrule our faith. Maybe the Lord
appeared yesterday and we didn’t realize it. Maybe He has answered prayer and we
haven’t recognized it.

Here are a few examples of failure to recognize
the Lord’s presence.

• When we miss what God is doing in another
person. Eli misunderstood what was happening to Hannah (see 1 Sam. 1:12-13).
It is possible for someone who ministers to you in an official capacity not to
recognize what God is doing in your life.

• When we miss God’s answer
to our prayer and only later recognize His presence. Peter was in prison and
the church was earnestly praying, but when he appeared at the door they didn’t
believe it (see Acts 12:13-17).

• When we are dominated by fear even
though God is all around us. Elisha’s servant was terrified of the enemy
chariots until he was able to see that the Lord’s hosts were far greater (see 2
Kings 6:15-17). Perhaps you too are dominated by fear when the truth is that God
is with you.

• When we are disappointed by the word God gives us.
Naaman, who suffered from leprosy, did not want to accept the word given by the
prophet to wash in the Jordan seven times (see 2 Kings 5). It may be that God
has given you a word and you don’t like it. Accept what God has given you and
who knows what will happen in the end (see Luke 16:10).

• When we are
blind to what God is doing strategically. Often when we see how things turn
out, our immediate reaction is, “God can’t be in this.” God’s Messiah—Isaiah’s
“root out of a dry ground”—ended up hanging on a cross. There was no hint at
the time that this was God in Christ reconciling the world.

Looking
back at particular times in your life, you might say, “God was at work, and I
was not aware of it.” You may be going through a time of trial at this very
moment. James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brethren, whenever you face trials
of many kinds” (James 1:2, NIV). The trial you’re going through at this moment
may be God’s hint that He’s there after all.

Adapted from When God
Shows Up by R.T. Kendall, copyright 2008, published by Charisma House. In
this book, R.T. Kendall shares life-transforming principles he learned when He
encountered God through the unexpected so that we can be prepared to recognize
His presence when He shows up.

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