Signs and Sovereignty of God

Well, I typically don't blog except for Mondays. However, this morning's events have been so exceptional that I will take exception to that guideline for the purpose of bringing glory to God. Anyone thinking this post has to do with 'sign gifts' will be moderately disappointed.

Tomorrow there is a 'Science Fair' at school. As part of the decoration for this event it is my job to hang the 'Science Fair' sign above the stage. I received the request last week and have been mulling the process over in my head for a few days. It is a blue canvass sign about 10-12 feet long and probably 2 feet high. I wanted to suspend it above the stage, displaying its contents for everyone who walked into the gym. I figured I would use the scissor lift to hang some cables and then attach the sign. It seemed simple enough. I figured it would take about an hour. After having charged the lift, I was ready to go!

Well, as soon as I set the lift in motion, some sparks flew out of the battery cabinet and I lost all power on the lift. The problem this poses is almost insurmountable. The points from which I would hang the cables were close to 20 feet above the floor! Now I would have to use a ladder. The ladder I wanted to use only reaches about 17 feet high. I knew this would be a major challenge, but this sign needed to be hung. So, I carried the ladder down to the gym and began work. As I hung the cables, it quickly became evident that they were too long. The sign would have hung too low. I went with the shorter cables. If I had the scissor lift to work off of, they would have been close to perfect. However, using the ladder was going to make this too hard for one man. After trying another variation with the cables, I pretty much gave up that idea. Because I had a prior engagement last night and needed to get home, I decided to come in early and hang the sign with twine. While this is not the most professional way to hang our sign, it seemed like the best option given the circumstances.

As I drove in this morning, my mind volleyed back and forth between prayer and the procedure I was going to apply. As I parked the van, I just stopped and prayed something to the effect of: "Lord, you have shown me in the last 12 hours how incapable and inept I am. Please help me to hang this sign as safely, quickly, and accurately as possible. I cannot do it alone as You proved yesterday. Please help me do it." Having completed my prayer, I went to work. I had a lot of the materials pre-staged so I began by cutting the twine to a length I thought would work. After attaching the twine to the four corners of the sign, I ascended the ladder. After inserting the twine through the eye bolt and pulling the twine to the length I thought was appropriate, I descended the ladder to hand the other side. I figured I would have to move back and forth between these two sides in order to center the banner over the stage. Having stationed the ladder below the second eye bolt, I ascended the ladder, threading the twine through the bolt. At this point I was able to raise the sign to the desired height, hoping that it was centered and level. I tied off the twine and descended the ladder, walking toward center court to check. What happened next was unbelievable, and a true testimony to our Lord.

The sign was almost dead center! The sign was level! There are 10 rivets in the top of the sign. The center of the banner would hang over the half court line. To my amazement the sign was hanging dead center! I mean if it was off, it was only off by less than an inch in either direction! It was so centered that I could not tell if it was off-centered! Not only that, but the sign was level! It looked perfectly level to me! I was awestruck at this! If you have never hung a sign before, you may not realize that there is a bit of an art to it. It is not just as simple as tying some rope to the end of the sign. You have to make sure it is hung so that the sign is flat, level, and centered. Now, this sign does have a wrinkle through it because I could not reach a point high enough to compensate for that. However, it is centered and level!

Now, the point is that God is sovereign over signs and that He answers what seem to be petty prayers! The Lord is concerned with every detail of life, no matter how minute! What seems to be trivial to us, can bring God glory and strengthen our faith! If I can bring such a small request to God and He will answer it, imagine what He will do with requests of a spiritual nature, providing it is in accordance with His will! Ponder for a moment, the glory God receives when we pray consistently and continually! Let your cogitation become a continual prayer throughout the day. Make constant communication with God your way of thinking. After all, He knows our hearts and our thoughts. We may as well think as though we are talking with God; not taking for granted this infinite privilege nor minimizing the prayer itself. Rather, let us pray continually, constantly depending on Christ for all our solutions. God is concerned with anything that brings Him glory. If that is as simple as twine and signs, then we should seek His will in it so that He will receive all of the glory He deserves!

Show me Your Glory

I am reading through the book of Exodus. In chapter 33 Moses makes an interesting request of God. It is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it seems frightening to request what Moses requested; yet it is this very thing for which all Christians long. Second, this request shames me. I am not sure that I always want to ask this. What a pitiful realization about myself. Lastly, Moses' bravado encourages me to pursue the Lord, seeking forgiveness and grace.

So, what does Moses request of God? He asks God in verse 18: "I pray You, show me Your glory!" (NASB) What an amazing petition! The solicitation, however, is infinitely less amazing than the answer! The Lord follows Moses' question with the following in verse 19:

"And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.""

God replied this way for a reason. It was not just a collection of sentences. He was not just filling a void. He was describing His glory to Moses! Not only that, but He was also gracious enough to provide this account for us in His word. What glory - God communicating Himself to His creation!

Upon further examination of God's reply, we see something startling in His response. God replies to Moses' request by revealing Himself. First, He makes 'all His goodness' pass before Moses! Well, there is no 'badness' with God. Therefore, 'all of My goodness' must be all that He is. Everything about God is good. He has no evil. He cannot even desire evil. Therefore, God Himself passed before Moses.

Second, God proclaims His Name before Moses! In the Old Testament, a person's name included all that the person was or represented. They did not compartmentalize and subdivide their life the way we do today. They understood that what a person does in leisure is related to what a person does at work. Their whole life was connected. So, in response to 'all of His (My) goodness' passing before Moses, God proclaimed His own Name. God proclaimed all of Himself! What a good lesson for Christians today! Where God is there is proclamation of His name! His Name is all that He is. Therefore, proclaim all of God, not just what you think someone may like or want to hear. His glory is all that He is!

Third, the Lord explains the essence of Himself in the short phrase 'and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.' What a marvelous statement! God will give His grace to whomever He chooses and will lavish His compassion on whomever He chooses! God will do what He wants! The Lord further substantiates this truth in Isaiah 46:9-10:

"Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God , and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times thing which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.'"

The glory of God is that He does whatever He wants! What He wants is to bring Himself all the glory! Because He is perfect, He is the most glorious and deserves all the praise and honor from all things! What is even more impressive is that He will accomplish it! Whether the salvation of believers or the condemnation of unbelievers, it is according to His pleasure. He extends mercy and compassion as He wills. What a great God we serve!