God in the Ordinary
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it."
Genesis 28:16
Part of our home library consists of several picture books with the intriguing title, Where’s Waldo. If you’re a parent or grandparent, Waldo may inhabit your bookshelf as well.
For the uninitiated, Waldo is a geeky-looking, glasses-wearing nerd with a striped shirt and a goofy hat. Waldo was created by an illustrator named Martin Handford.
Waldo was just an afterthought initially. Handford wanted to draw crowd scenes. But children grew fascinated with trying to find their hero – so fascinated that more than 40 million Where’s Waldo books have been sold in 28 countries.
This guy Waldo is supposed to be on every page. The author assures us this is so. But you couldn’t prove it by me. He seems often hidden though he’s in plain sight. You have to be willing to look for him. “Surely Waldo was in this place and I knew it not.”
The author says that he hides Waldo so children can “see wonder in places it might not have occurred to them.”
Sometimes it takes a while to find Waldo. It demands patience. Some people are better at it than others. (My grandchildren sure are!)
Part of what makes it so hard to find Waldo is that he is so ordinary-looking. But he’s there…in the ordinary.
Every day of your life is another page. God is there, the Scriptures tell us – on every one of them. But the ease of seeing Him varies from one page to the next.
Rainbow Days
God is easy to find on some pages. We see this in the story of Noah. After flooding the earth, the Lord gave Noah a sign that He would be in covenant with humankind and that Noah was not alone. That sign was a rainbow.
God must have been very clear that day. He must have felt very present to Noah on rainbow days.
Those days still happen. On rainbow days God’s presence is hard to miss. The births of my children were rainbow days. When prayed-for people were healed…those were rainbow days.
When the worship is inspiring, and the Word is insightful, and the fellowship is sweet…a Sunday can be a rainbow day.
We read in the verse above that Jacob had a dream at Bethel. It was a rainbow moment.
So why doesn’t God send us dreams every night? Why don’t we experience rainbows every day?
Maybe it’s because God wants us to learn to see Him in the ordinary rather than be dependent upon the extraordinary. Maybe it’s because if God regularly satisfied our demands for special effects it would be like a mother who inadvertently trains her children to pay attention only when she raises her voice.
Why don’t we experience rainbows every day? Maybe it’s because God wants us to learn to see Him in the ordinary rather than be dependent upon the extraordinary.
God is always present, the Bible says. But He often shows up in unexpected ways. He travels incognito. He is a master of disguise.
Where’s God? He’s closer than you think. He’s where you least expect Him. He’s right there on the page. And He’s waiting to be found… if you have eyes to see.
Where’s God? He’s closer than you think. He’s where you least expect Him. He’s right there on the page. And He’s waiting to be found… if you have eyes to see.
PRAYER
Lord, all too often I look for you in the big moments of life. And, I’m grateful that I can see you there. But help me to understand that you’re with me every day, even in the small moments. Give me new eyes to see that… and a new reason to praise You.
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