Our Interfering God

Connie Williams, editor of Discipleship Journal, shares this about her life…

“Someone watching me go off to work in the morning, sit in my cubicle all day, and then head home in the evening—maybe with a stop at the library or grocery store—would never believe I’m living a life of adventure. Here in Colorado, adventurers tend toward the extreme. Skiers take on backcountry slopes and flirt with avalanches. Hikers conquer mountain peaks. Bears and mountain lions sniff around our back doors (no kidding). So how can a cubicle life punctuated by grocery runs possibly be adventurous?

“Easy, when I’m abiding with God. When Jesus promises that He and the Father will come and make their home with me (Jn. 14:23), He neglects to mention that’s about as comfortable as having a case of dynamite delivered to my living room.”

I love that description, because I feel at times that’s how God is with me. Amidst the routines of life—which at times feel like a monotonous humdrum of fun-less busyness—there is an adventure happening. God is moving. God is encouraging and leading. God is prodding and convicting. God is lifting and setting straight. God is making his home in me. Yes, God is an interfering God! And agreeing with Connie Williams, I don’t find it very comfortable.

But I do find it good. It is good, because I learn to rely on God. I learn to trust him, lean on him, depend on him, so that before long I see like him, hear like him, speak like him. As he becomes more, I become less. And that is where the adventure happens, a place where predictability vanishes and the world looks different. In the midst of the roaring of the river rapids I hear the very voice of God. When turbulent times come upon me, I feel his steadfast love coming my way. When I am sleeping and cease to be cognizant, I know he is singing a song of prayer over me.

Oh, thank you, Lord, for your abiding presence. May I be more of yours today!
JON