I Don't Get It: An Essay on the Unexpected

Here's a bit for when God just doesn't make sense. I know I can relate to that. Things don't ever seem to really go according to plan, but I've come to realize that's the way I like it.

Exodus 15:24-25 - "Then the people complained and turned against Moses. 'What are we going to drink?' they demanded. So Moses cried out to the LORD for help, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into water, and this made the water good to drink."

If that isn't the one of the weirdest solutions to a problem you've ever heard of, then what is stranger? This is the same God who split a rock and let fresh water flow from it. This God turned water into wine. This God could have changed the water with the flick of his wrist, or just made usable water appear from anywhere He pleased. But instead, He chose to work in the most unconventional of ways.

If you haven't really though about it, the unexpected is the realm in which God truly thrives.

• No one expected the Red Sea to part for just long enough for an entire nation to walk through, but then collapse onto their enemies.
• No one expected a "runt" like David to defeat Goliath and become the mighty king of Israel
• No one expected God to enter this world in a manger, and leave it having beaten death forever.

Are you tracking with me? God likes to keep the world guessing. Nobody one-ups God. That's the way it should be. Ephesians 3:20 is a verse I hold with me all the time specifically for this reason. It says that Our God is a God who is able to do incredibly more than we could ever ask for or imagine. That's comforting to me.

Why should I worry about planning things out to the minute when God already has better things for me? Sometimes, like the wood for Moses, the solution is right in front of me and God wants to use the ordinary to work extraordinary feats. And then often times, the answer is not anywhere in sight, and I am called to trust.

Mankind places its trust in so many things. We trust our close friends, our looks, our money, but seldom is it shown clearly that we place our trust in God. That's hard. It's scary. But our God doesn't fit into a logical formula. You can't put God inside a box, He made the box.

My challenge to myself and to those reading along is this, live like you serve a God of the unexpected. What the world calls impossible should be different when compared to Christ's words in Luke 18:27, "... What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Live like you believe it.
-matt