Notice God in the Ordinary

Another Notice God in the Ordinary devotional from the GEMS Service Center!! I love this one!

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

During the dark days of the judges, we might be tempted to think that God was not at work. Not so! Just check out these amazing God sightings from the book of Ruth

Fact: When Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi arrived in Bethlehem the barley harvest was beginning. Knowing the poor and alien were permitted to glean in the fields during the harvest (Leviticus 19:9-10), Ruth asked Naomi if she could pick up grain behind anyone who showed her favor(Ruth 2:2).

God sighting: Of all the available places to harvest in Bethlehem, God directed her to the field belonging to Boaz, a relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech (Ruth 2:3).

Fact: Ruth hoped to pick up leftover grain (Ruth 2:2).

God sighting: Ruth not only received leftover grain on her first day on the job, Boaz provided her a meal so large that she ate all she wanted and had some left over (Ruth 2:14), plus Boaz gave orders to his men, “Even if she gathers among the sheaves, don’t embarrass her. Rather, pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her” (Ruth 2:15-16).

Fact: When Noami told Ruth to wash, perfume herself, put on her best clothes, and go to the threshing floor at night to uncover Boaz’s feet and lie down, as a foreigner she could’ve rejected what may have seemed risky and odd advice (Ruth 2:3-5).

God sighting: Ruth listened and obeyed Noami who was older, wiser, and understood Israelite custom and law. Her obedience resulted in Boaz’s continued favor. He gave her six measures of barley and promised that in the morning he would go to the town gate to seek to redeem her (Ruth 3:13-15).

Fact: Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. She gave birth to a son (Ruth 4:13).

God sighting: Boaz and Ruth’s son was named Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David, in the genealogy of the Savior, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17)!

Fact: God sightings are not unique to Ruth’s story. The same is true for you and me! If we want to find God in our story we must look for Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

God sighting: Your turn. Where do you see Him in your story today? Feed the fire by being on watch for God in all places, at all times by noticing Him in the ordinary.

PASSION Step: The book of Ruth has more God-sightings. Read it and count how many you can find!

People see God every day. They just do not recognize Him.

L. James Harvey

Notice God in the Ordinary

Tonight at GEMS I led a devotional about Noticing God in the Ordinary, the last discipline in our PASSION acronym that helps fuel the fire in our hearts for God. I used the Object Lesson book that GEMS publishes every year that coordinates with the theme, and combined it with some materials from the "Threading the Theme Throughout the Year" workshop. I showed the girls some animal tracks and we talked about how even though we can't see the animals, we can see where they were by the tracks and signs that they leave behind. We talked about signs that the girls themselves leave behind so that their mom knows they've been there..clothes left on the bathroom floor after their shower, mud tracked in from the farm in the back hallway, etc. We also talked about other, non-physical signs, that they might leave behind...such as their kindness towards a mean girl at school, etc. Then we talked about how God gives us signs that He is there, so that even though we can't see Him physically, we can know for certain that He is with us. We mentioned the Bible...nature...kindnesses of strangers...all sorts of things.

I then gave each girl a cut-out shape of a highway road sign and asked them to write in some way that they have "Noticed God in the Ordinary" - a sign of God's presence to them. It was amazing. It was humbling. It was a blessing to read what all the girls wrote. Girls wrote about when someone from church brought them a meal, the sunset, the frost crystals they saw this morning, answered prayer, their mom's life changing for the better because of God...all kinds of things.

The most touching for me was what my 10 year old daughter wrote. She wrote a couple things, but one was "When my teacher called to see if I was okay." She had had a rough day at school. Her teacher had noticed. And my daughter noticed that her teacher noticed. And that was a sign of God's presence to her. How thankful I am for that teacher. And how humbled I am to be reminded that those girls (both my daughters and my GEMS) are watching. They are watching me in order to notice God.

Oh Lord, that I might be a sign of your presence to a child. I am not worthy. It must all come from You.