Sometimes God works fast in my life. Sometimes slow.
Sometimes God works like fire. Sometimes like a mountain. Sometimes like an ocean.
Like a Fire
Growing up in California I knew all about forest fires—like the ones that blazed last summer. They would come fast and furious, overwhelming whatever was before them, consuming everything.
Sometimes God comes like a fire. Like a burning bush to Moses. Like a burning mountain to Israel.
This is when God comes fast. When a great change occurs. When a transformation breaks forth.
Sometimes we call this salvation, redemption, being born again.
Like a Mountain
I also grew up around the mountains. Mountains are big, sturdy, unmoving. You go up, down, and around a mountain. Sometimes through it. But it doesn’t care. A mountain just is.
But then Jesus said something crazy. That if we have faith God will move mountains.
But Jesus didn’t tell us how fast that mountain would move.
Sometimes God works slow, moving things imperceptibly—rock by rock, boulder by boulder. And after a lifetime you look back and see a moved mountain in your character and your relationships.
Sometimes we call this sanctification, or purification.
Like an Ocean
I also grew up going to the Pacific Ocean, which was just 45 minutes from my house.
The ocean is immense and flowing.
It is easy to think you are in control of a little water, that it moves around you as you splash around. But if you have ever swam or surfed in big waves, you know the water is really in charge of you.
And what about those mountains, that go right into the water. Over time does the ocean change? Or do the mountains?
Even the hardest stone will be ground down by a running river. Even the strongest cliffs will be worn away the pounding waves.
Sometimes this is how God works. Gently washing over you. Flowing in and around you as the Spirit of God. Shaping and transforming you, always with you. Sometimes in calm. Sometimes as storm.
How God Works
These are the images of how God works in my life: like fire, mountain, and ocean.
Can we be open to all the ways (and places) God is work?
How have you see God at work in your life?
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