Saturday, January 26, 2008

divine intervention?


A few days ago my wife slept in. Nothing unusual there. At about 9:30 the dog went outside our bedroom door while I was on the computer and started whining, waking Stephanie up earlier than she would have got up without the canine nudge. "That's not like Lola", I thought at the time. In the next twenty minutes as my wife made her way downstairs, she looked at the calendar and noticed, "oops, I'm supposed to be at work!" *Commence crazy stressful half hour of my life!* On the way to work Stephanie and I both commented on how nice it was for the dog to wake her up that morning. We mused about whether or not it could have been God getting her out of bed and eventually to work. To be honest, at the time I was bothered by my naiveté in believing that this could have been "a God thing". Later that day I was bothered by the fact that I had been bothered. I began thinking- of course it could have been God, in fact six years ago I probably would have insisted it was God.
Lately I've found myself wondering a lot about these things. About what in my life to thank God for, and what in my life to dismiss as coincidence. I do believe strongly that nothing happens that is outside God's control, but an example that often disturbs me is the example of wealth. I, being a middle class American, am extremely wealthy compared to most of the world. When I pray I often thank God that I have enough of everything, and I often even thank him that I have enough money to enjoy things like video games, ice cream, or nice-looking and comfortable furniture - things that I am far from truly needing. While I believe in a God that wants us to find enjoyment and pleasure in our lives, and I don't feel guilty about these pleasures, I am very wary of saying that God has blessed me with these things -- prosperity gospel yadayadayada. . . Is it God or is it coincidence? Is it God, or is it the wealth that my society has built on the backs of others? Right about now, I can see this is taking me on a never ending path of wondering so I'll try to bring it to a hasty close.
Answer - I'll keep thanking God for every good thing I receive; for every convenient coincidence and every small pleasure I enjoy that doesn't take me from Him. But I'll probably also keep asking "was that you Lord?" whether it matters or not.

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