Faith Over FearSample

In our humanness, we can sometimes grow complacent about the power and presence of our God, unintentionally minimising our expectations of what he can accomplish, losing sight of his work so evident around us. We don’t mean to, but slowly and subtly we begin to expect less. We stop looking for the miraculous, stop anticipating answers to prayer and begin to explain away the extraordinary.

But if we slow down and pay attention, we can see the hand of God moving intricately in the detail of our everyday lives. In the provision of resources we can find no source for, in unexpected encounters that bring colour, clarity or comfort to our days, in the solution to problems we’ve been hopelessly pondering. Evidence of a God who is near, involved and faithful.

As we have spent time in the experience of Mary in these days, perhaps the most profound reminder is this: God delights in using the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary – and he invites us to respond with faith, even when we don’t understand. He invites us, like Mary, to place our trust not in knowing all the details or every part of the plan, but in the One who calls us.

God chose an ordinary, inexperienced, young girl to be part of his redemption plan for the world. Mary wasn’t a scholar or a leader. She held no position of power or privilege. Yet God looked upon her with favour and called her to something extraordinary.

In this Advent season, let us be inspired to return to awe and wonder, to rediscover the majesty and might of our God. Let us not lose sight of the miraculous among the ordinary and may we never grow numb to the wonder of who our God is and what he is capable of – the One who calls us to move out from our comfortable places, to follow him into the unfamiliar, the intimidating, in his strength and for his glory.

Today, ask God to open your eyes to his presence in the everyday. Look for the unexpected, the unexplainable, the unmistakable. And when you see it, let your response be one of faith: ‘How can this be?’

Lord, forgive me when I lose sight of your wonder, when I stop expecting you to move in powerful and personal ways. Open my eyes to your presence in the everyday, and rekindle in me a heart that sees and believes, even when I don’t understand. Amen.