Last Tuesday, in “Animals…All Around, Part 1”, we saw that just because we don’t always recognize God’s blessings doesn’t mean they aren’t there. We also saw that sometimes we don’t recognize God’s blessings because we are too busy to stop and watch for them. Are there other reasons we don’t see the fulfillment of God’s promises in our situations?
While touring in Australia, I told myself that I was watching for animal life 24/7. In reality, however, while driving I was watching the road and trying to remember to drive on the left. When out hiking, I was often swatting flies or watching where I put my feet. Take, for example, the day I decided to take a walk through the park while my husband visited the ANZAC museum in Albany, Western Australia. I was doing the right thing, right? I was taking the time to stop the mad scramble and search for birds. Unfortunately for me, only a few paces into my walk, “nature” began to “call”, and I had to switch the focus of my search from birds to toilets! Needless to say, I heard birds calling out as I rushed to find that all-important place, but I didn’t stop to look for them. Could it be that one of the reasons I didn’t see more animals was because I was, in general, too…distracted?
In the same way, so often we don’t see God’s abundant blessings because we are too distracted by other things: Problems, illness–even just the busyness of life–can all blind our senses to the touch of our God. It doesn’t mean He isn’t there, it simply means we don’t see Him. We need to stay focused on seeking the blessings God pours out on us, even–and perhaps especially–when emergencies arise!
Here are a couple of examples:
1. You are feeling so overcome with fear that when an encouraging email arrives, do you even open it. Or if you do, you don’t even realize that the encouraging words are actually God speaking into your situation.
2. You may be feeling discouraged and depressed, like the “sun” of prosperity and happiness will never shine again. You pass someone who attempts to make eye contact with you to give you a cheery smile. You don’t even notice. What you don’t realize is that this particular person’s smile was the ray of sunshine you had been hoping for. He was sent to you by God to give you hope, but you were too distracted to even see him.
Another reason we were never able to see certain Australian animals in the wild was that many are nocturnal, and the ones that were not nocturnal tended to be “crepuscular” (in order to escape the heat of the day, they usually don’t come out of the cooler forests except in the early mornings and late evenings). We, on the other hand, were forced to be “diurnal” (opposite of nocturnal)! Because of the problem with animals on the roads at night, we were actually not allowed to drive our rental car anywhere except in town between dusk and dawn. As a result, we could not be in the animals’ habitats at the times when we would have been able to see them.
In the same way, we may be expecting God’s blessings to pour out on our own timetable. What we don’t realize is that God’s timing is always right, even when it differs from our own. Take, for example, the sale of a home. God prompts you to move to another town. You put your house on the market, but it doesn’t sell right away. Why isn’t He blessing your obedience with a quick sale? Is it, perhaps, because the timing isn’t right? Maybe the home you need to purchase in the new town isn’t available to you yet, or there may be some other reason for the delay. The point is, God will bless you with the sale of your home. It may not, however, be in your timing. Just like we needed to be in the forest at the right times to see certain of the Australian creatures, we need to recognize that God’s blessings will come at just the right time.
God’s blessings abound; however, in order to recognize and receive them, we must await God’s timing, and we need to stay focused and not allow our circumstances to distract us.
There were times, however, in Australia, that I was wholeheartedly looking for diurnal animals in the daytime. I was in their habitat and I was taking my time and staying completely focused on the search, yet I still didn’t find any. Are there times in our lives that we are seeking God’s blessings in His time, times when we are attentively pushing aside our distractions and taking the time to watch and wait, but those blessings still seem to elude us? Join us on Saturday for “Animals…ALL Around, Part 3”!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author — “Aboard God’s Train — A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer”, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, andScriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, withAnswers2Prayer Ministries. Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.
(To access the entire “Animals…ALL Around” Mini-Series, please clickhere.)