God has made it clear that this is how he works. He clothes his greatest treasures in humility. He sent the everlasting King of Israel into the capital city riding on a donkey. And he told them, through the prophet Zechariah, what to look for—five hundred years ahead of time!
There is a contradiction in the spiritual life. We long for permanence, and we will never find more of it than we can find in God, yet we must find him in the present moment—a moment so impermanent we cannot even put a duration on it.
Look for the divine activity, learn to discern it moment by moment. Then you will learn from all men, but boast in none. You will receive from every source, but cling to none. You will honor the streams, but possess the ocean.
Jean Pierre de Caussade tells us that holiness is found in faithfulness to the divine order. This statement has the potential to demystify holiness for us, and this is its intent. Instead, we tend to mystify the divine order, considering it to be as obscure and out of reach as we think holiness is.
While there are counterfeit versions of faith, there is only one real faith. The apostle Peter called it “faith of equal standing” (2 Peter 1:1).
Young children will simply close their eyes when they want to hide, thinking they cannot be seen because they cannot see. This is amusing to adults, but how often do we make the same mistake with God? And how often is it because we do not want to give an account of ourselves?
The way you are used to processing the world around you is, itself, part of the world around you. The sights and sounds that confront you, as well as your own vision and hearing: it is all one system, all part of the old creation. It is a closed system, and it once contained your heart, but it can do so no longer.
Faith hears God speaking through creation and is content to listen, rejoicing simply because God speaks, communicating himself Spirit to spirit, creating fellowship. Meanwhile, the mind seeks useful information, tools that it can take and build something with.
God can speak to you through a pattern emerging out of random events. But that is God speaking your language. And, while he sometimes speaks your language, he is always speaking his. Do not wait for a pattern; listen to the fire within the pile of thorns.
This world cannot separate you from your Creator; you are closer to him than it is.
