I’ve only been married for a few months now, but already I feel like I have a few marriage stories. Earlier this year, my wife Magna-Leena and I were blessed to take an extended leave from our work responsibilities after our wedding; we had a great time. After a couple of weeks, though, we felt like it was time for us to pack our bags and start getting things in order around our new apartment. So we went home and started to clear out boxes. Another thing that was important to us was organizing and joining all of our finances together as a newly married couple. So we did our research, found the bank that would work best for us, and set everything up.
Now here’s the thing, we have never had to share our finances with anyone before. Sure, we both had 100% transparency in the area of our finances, we knew all the details years before we got married, but as far as operating a household and paying bills, we had never done that with another person before.
One day I was sitting at the kitchen table as Magna was doing some work and mentioned that we should move some money over to a different account to cover expenses. When I did, she agreed in passing. However, I didn’t realize that she was deep in thought and only heard about half of what I said. So, I went to the computer to make the transfer, thinking she knew what was going on. That turned out to be a (slight) problem.
It must have been a few moments later where she checked the account and saw what happened, then proceeded to turn around and say something along the lines of, “wow, thanks for checking with me before doing that.” I responded, “We just spoke about that, and you agreed that it was a good idea.” Now, I’m learning that I don’t always need to respond with the facts. I can respond in a more understanding way. However, this isn’t a blog post about communication. We’ll save that for another day.
See, when it came to that one specific transaction, Magna and I experienced two significantly different feelings. I had a plan and executed that plan without giving it any second thought at all, while she was caught off guard and a little stressed, maybe even confused because she didn’t know what I was doing. Don’t worry, we ended up talking about it and worked everything out, but in those few moments, she was caught off guard, maybe even a little stressed and confused.
With that story in mind, let me ask you, do you know what God is doing?
I was reading the book of Isaiah, and there were a few things that jumped off the page and made me go, “oh my goodness, this is happening today all the time.” Here’s what I read:
Isaiah 6:11-12
What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the Lord or notice what he is doing.
Picture this for a second: you’re at a party. People are sitting around a table laughing and you’re there just watching what’s going on. Now think about heaven and picture what you imagine God to be doing on the earth, the mission that we’ve been given, the spiritual war that we are all involved in.
The people sitting there in our scenario don’t see it; the Bible says, “They never think about or notice what God is doing.”
Now don’t get hung up on the picture of the dinner party, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t enjoy time with our friends or have time to relax and hang out, but the Bible is talking about people who get sucked into the system, work, strive to achieve, repeat. The ones who live their lives from task to task and scheduled appointment to scheduled appointment without ever stopping to consider or even notice what God is doing.
Let me encourage you as we prepare to go into a new year to shut the craziness down in your life. Don’t ignore it and pretend that it doesn’t exist. Rather in the midst of whatever is going on in the world or in your life, stop to notice and consider what God is doing. Don’t call everything a conspiracy, and don’t live in fear. Instead, make the word of God your foundation and His words over your life your direction. Be a man or woman who is not swayed and thrown back and forth with emotion, confused and stressed. Know what God is doing and experience the peace that comes from a higher perspective than our own.
