MEN AT WORK?

We often chuckle when we see a sign saying, “Men at Work” and then see five guys leaning on shovels.  Not too much work getting done.  Do we ever wonder if God is leaning on a shovel, not really working like we’d like Him too?  Maybe our view depends on what we are looking for.

I must confess that I want to see bigger things - 4^th of July fireworks kind of things.  I want to see renewal in the church to where its impact on its community sees people coming to Christ regularly like in the book of Acts, where physical healing occurs in response to James 5 prayer.  I want to see radical transformation in lives to where righteousness becomes our passion, marriages are healed, relationships are restored and Jesus is the love of our lives.  And I want to see it in big mass movements where God’s Spirit just breaks in and changes the regular routine of things, washing over lives in big time power.

I pray for that.  We pray for that.  But if we don’t see that does it mean God isn’t working, that He’s leaning on His shovel?  Jesus tells us in the gospel of John that the Father is always working.   The timetable on which God chooses to reveal Himself through the big time epic events is up to Him.  The big splash may be our desire, but we see throughout church history that those times really are up to God.  The Great Awakening of 1858 came after a year of prayer.  Yet we have seen a huge movement of prayer over the past 20 years where nationwide revival was not the outcome.  Our prayers open up the channel for His power for the day he chooses to do the big stuff, but in the meantime, His Spirit continues to work in ways we may call the smaller scale stuff.  He persistently convicts men of sin.  He draws people to Jesus.  He lives in us producing fruit of incredible worth and impact, (Gal 5:22,23), gifts us for service, moves us to prayer and praise, and keeps increasing our maturity and usefulness in God’s service.  The norm is the everyday steady working of God in the lives of people, bringing us to conformity to Christ.  

Over my life I haven’t seen the big stuff, but I have seen enough evidence in the little stuff to know that God is at work, not leaning on a shovel.  Have you?  Especially in your own life?