Xtraordinary – God's character from A to Z

I love that we have an outrageously extraordinary God, who works amazing and mighty miracles, but who also often works through ordinary people and ordinary circumstances to bring about extraordinary results. Only God can do that.

Sometimes I wonder which is trickier: pouring out Heaven’s power and wowing the world with an undeniably obvious supernatural intervention or marshaling mistake-making mortals to accomplish seemingly smaller tasks for the Kingdom of the Lord. It would appear far easier for the Almighty to speak the word and make it so than to include us in the process.

But then, nothing is too hard for our great God.

I think we too often just get in the way, even when we think we are serving valiantly and helping the Lord. Still, God chooses to work in, through, around, and with us. He calls us, inspires us, equips us, instructs us, encourages us, leads us, enables us, sees us through the thing, and then blesses us for coming along for the ride. How extraordinary is that?

God is anything but ordinary.

Watch Him at work, especially when we step back, stop striving, and let Him do what only He can do. See what happens, when we answer His call for a journey that could never be completed without His help.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14, NIV)

But-but-but … we wanna fight-fight-fight and try-try-try and fuss-fuss-fuss. That’s sort of our most ordinary nature.

Remember? God is extraordinary.

But aren’t we supposed to do something – besides just sit back and let God do all the work?

It’s funny how Christianese jargon comes and goes with each generation. Folks used to say, “God helps those who help themselves.” Sometime later, they parroted this line instead: “Let go, and let God.”

Maybe both statements are valid. But then again, maybe neither one is wholly true. Or perhaps both hold some merit, when we find balance between the two.

Maybe faith and effort intersect most pronouncedly where we run out of everything we are and everything we have, and we cannot go on without the Lord’s intervention. Perhaps that when faith is proven, when we have nothing left, but the battle is still on, so we have only to stop and watch what He will do.

• It’s when the frail elderly lady stops would-be home intruders with a single glance.
• It’s when the runaway vehicle, careening off the highway bridge, somehow bounces right over the minivan full of kids below.
• It’s when the crippled man climbs out of his wheelchair and takes his first independent steps in more than two decades.
• It’s when the high-risk pregnancy produces a healthy child.
• It’s when the desperate drug addict comes clean.
• It’s when the shrinking paycheck somehow manages to last through an extra-long month of expenses.
• It’s when the long-time cancer-riddled body is suddenly found to be cancer-free.
• It’s when the rebellious soul gives up the fight and falls into the Savior’s strong, gentle arms in long-needed relief.

It’s when we see how extraordinary our God really is.

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Adapted from public domain art

Bible verse graphic – created on quote generator

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