God I Don't Know!

"There are times that we don't know what we don't know!" Those are the words of an older friend and mentor who called the other day. By older, I mean someone from a generation who can look at me and say, "Now, you don't remember this, but..." That's older. The wise old sages back home are known as barnacles, and if you are one that won't offend you.

Anyway, my friend had a conversation with the Lord and was led to these passages of scripture:

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

John 3:7-8
You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

My friend said that during his daily walk in the pine forest near Purify Bay that he encountered a suspended piece of pine straw. This is not unfamiliar to those who spend any amount of time in the woods, but usually you can see a spider's thread connecting the straw piece to the tree. In this case the fine wire was invisible, an amazing feat!

After another mile of hiking, my friend came to the spot where the straw was and realized that it was still suspended, and the thread invisible from any angle. Taken with curiosity, he used his walking stick to move the invisible thread, blindly poking an area where the thread was sure to be. Sure enough, the straw moved, and the curiosity was satisfied.

What is the Lord saying through this? According to John 3 the Holy Spirit is at work, but we can't see Him! He is holding, suspending, lifting, moving, .... pick your verb of hope, He's at work doing it! And we benefit from this invisible but powerful expression of God's love.

My friend on to say that the lesson he learned from the Lord was this: Never focus on your problem or issue. Always focus on the Power of God. Rarely can we make any real lasting difference in the nuts and bolts of a problem, but we can trust and believe that the invisible, infinite, omnipotent God we serve, by His Power, can make real change happen. We are called to command the special ground on which we stand, and that means taking authority over the issues we face, and relying on the Power of the Holy Spirit to make the change. But most importantly, "You must be born again!"