Picking one’s spot as a manager or as a friend to get into the details is never an easy choice. Is now the time? Will getting involved at this level undermine our friendship? Am I doing “too” much? Even when the situation is obvious there is often a hesitation in my response. I am more fearful of the individual’s feelings than I am of his or her state of being. I know this can sound wimpy but it is what it is. Knowing when to step in is often a test of character.
I listen as John describes a scene where our prayers have echoed before God and those in worship. I can hear our pleas for help, cries of desperation, and even a few verses of adoration and I wonder aloud, is God involved in any of this! Even as the thought and wonder forms on my fear it is as if John anticipates my question. “Then the Angel filled the censer with fire from the Altar and heaved it to earth. It set off thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake.” (Revelation 8.5)
God is involved. I don’t always understand. I can’t consistently see how and when. I often wonder just what I am seeing or experiencing, lost for words or description. Yet there is no doubt that God is actively, deeply, and personally involved in the course of our lives.
Some sense that we must do something about this. Be disciplined. Get ready. Achieve this or that. Prepared and get ready for God’s engagement. Frankly and bluntly this is bad advice. God is engaged. God has, yes past tense, already accepted you and me. Construction of a long term home when we can dwell with God for eternity is already underway! God is in the details of life in a way that sets “off thunders, voices, lightnings, and an earthquake”.
We have one key detail lying in our lap. Will we turn towards God? Will we accept with faith what is being offered freely and completely? These are the details that determine life itself.
