Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
At times, it can seem like God isn’t with us, but God is there with, ‘and it just so happened’ moments to bring about a larger story going on.
I often listen to people’s stories and wonder where God is in them. Often the stories tell of mess. There is brokenness, hurt, and pain.
I listen for two things. One is for what is happening in the here and now. Their Red Dot.
The Red Dot is a concept I learned from Larry Crabb.
You go into a shopping mall, and you want to find where a particular shop is, and at the entrance, there is a map of the building. You notice a large arrow pointing to a location on the map, and there is a large red dot. The arrow says ‘You are here’.
It’s that central ‘You are here’ groundedness that I’m listening for. Where are they in their soul right here, right now?
The second thing I am listening for is what is going on around them. What is God up to in this mess? They are often so captured by the mess that they can’t see outside of themselves. An outside perspective is needed.
If there is a ‘You are here’ knowing, then I want to express a ‘You are within’ connection to them.
You are held; you are known; you are loved.
A larger storyOne of the concepts that surprised me many years ago is that I am part of the meta-narrative of God. The Big story of what God is up. Part of the eternal flow that has and will continue to go on forever.
The Bible expresses stories of people just like ourselves caught up in this gulf stream of God’s goodness. This three person dancing trinity sweeps me along and seems to at times sneakily in the background orchestrate things to bring about perfect symphonic harmony.
Paul alludes to it in Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Romans 8:28
We can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:28 (Message)
There is a little phrase that I think points to this background movement of God.
Have you noticed this subtle little phrase acting itself out in your life?
And it just so happenedI read these words ‘And it just so happened’ in the Bible and I have a sneaky suspicion that God is up to something.
Something good.
It’s like the boyfriend that ‘just so happens’ to turn up at the girlfriend’s place around an hour before dinner.
There is a kind of background motivation going on that we need to sit with and let it be revealed.
There are many examples of this in the Bible, but I want to focus on two of them. These two are so entwined in how they point to the larger story of God.
Ruth in the fieldsA mother and her daughter-in-law, both widows, return home from a foreign land. They are poor. The mother-in-law, Naomi, is bitter and angry at God. Ruth, her foreigner daughter-in-law, is trusting and hopeful.
They are in deep need of something to happen. Something good. They have no one to care for them and to look after their needs, but God is at work, in the background.
They need food, and it is harvest time. One of the laws that God set down for the people of Israel was that the landowners were to leave the edges of their fields as places for the poor to go and harvest from. God cared for the poor. Still does.
“When you reap the harvest of your land, don’t reap the corners of your field or gather the gleanings. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners. I am God, your God.” Leviticus 23:22
So Ruth goes to harvest from that which was left behind.
Now Naomi had a rich relative named Boaz, from Elimelech’s family.
One day, Ruth, the Moabite, said to Naomi, “I am going to the fields. Maybe someone will be kind enough to let me gather the grain he leaves behind.”
Naomi said, “Go, my daughter.”
So Ruth went to the fields and gathered the grain that the workers cutting the grain had left behind. It just so happened that the field belonged to Boaz, from Elimelech’s family. Ruth 2:1-3
The rest of the story goes on to a love story of Boaz and Ruth marrying and having a baby.
Oh, and the name of the town where this story was unfolding? It was Bethlehem. Yes, that Bethlehem of the Christmas story.
Pregnant MaryShe was a pregnant teenager. She had been told by an angel that she was going to be pregnant with God. That she would have a baby, but it wasn’t going to her fiances. Her fiance, Joseph was also told that it wasn’t going to be his, but he was to look after Mary and to carry on to marry her.
A lot of mysterious stuff going on. Probably everyone thought it was terrible having a baby outside of marriage, but God was on the move.
Luke doesn’t record the words ‘And it just so happened’, but I think it would fit into the Christmas story.
At that time [And it just so happened], Augustus Caesar sent an order that all people in the countries under Roman rule must list their names in a register.
This was the first registration; it was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to their own towns to be registered.
So Joseph left Nazareth, a town in Galilee, and went to the town of Bethlehem in Judea, known as the town of David.
Joseph went there because he was from the family of David.
Joseph registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was now pregnant.
While they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have the baby, and she gave birth to her first son.
Because there were no rooms left in the inn, she wrapped the baby with pieces of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough. Luke 2:1-7
It just so happened that a census was being taken.
It just so happened that Joseph was from Bethlehem and, according to the rules of the census, he had to return to his hometown.
It just so happened that Mary gave birth to Jesus there in Bethlehem, the same place Naomi returned home to with Ruth, who had just so happened to glean in a field owned by Boaz.
It just so happened that there is a direct genealogical connection between Boaz and Joseph. Read the family tree in Matthew 1: 5-16.
It’s a mystery, unfoldingIt’s interesting. It brings an assurance to know that there is a bigger picture to be seen and there is a larger story going on.
But it’s not something to get obsessed with. I don’t believe God would want you to look at every little thing to see if there is a secret meaning, code, or theory.
No, I simply believe that God can use the most seemingly hopeless of situations to bring about the larger story going on.
There is a pilgrimage, not a plan of precision perfection. There is a path, not a tightrope where you worry about falling off. There is a dance not a demand to follow in rigorous legality.
God doesn’t take away our free will to choose. Ruth still had to choose to go to a field and gather grain. Joseph and Mary still had to choose to take the long pregnant journey to Bethlehem.
You still have to do the work, get out and L.O.F.O. (Look Out For Opportunities). But perhaps in your grain fields there might be instances of ‘and it just so happened.’
Quotes to consider- Often times we’re looking for nice clear linear logical explanations about why we feel this compulsion and need to give efforts to something. There might not be any explanations other than something within you that says if I don’t head in this direction something within me will die. Rob Bell https://robbell.podbean.com/e/a-hymn-for-the-curve/
- A full search into our soul causes life to begin, not end. And then it’s as if we’ve never lived before. Dark nights may not go away, but they hold the promise of a bright morning. This world’s sunsets become another world’s sunrises. And joy comes into sight. Larry Crabb Soultalk
- Every hard thing we endure can put us in touch with our desire for God, and every trial can strengthen that desire until it becomes the consuming passion of our life. Larry Crabb Soultalk
- Whether life is bumpy or smooth, the most supernatural thing we can do is to want to know God better, to value his pleasure and his purposes above everything else, and to want directions for the journey into his presence more than a plan for making life work. Larry Crabb Soultalk
- Immature spirituality focuses on experience. Mature spirituality focuses on seeing and knowing. David Benner
- Mysticism is simply the longing for heart knowing of God. David Benner
- How does it feel to be part of something much larger going on?
- Can you reflect back on your life and notice some ‘And it just so happened’ moments?
- What part does you taking action have a role in God being able to orchestrate those ‘And it just so happened’ moments?
Further reading
Barry Pearman
Photo by Héctor J. Rivas on Unsplash
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