October 2013
Eyes have not seen and hears have not heard … 1 Corinthians 2:9
I cut an apple open yesterday and it was rotten to the core. Disgusted me a little bit. I’d been looking forward to biting into a nice, juicy piece of fruit and savoring every mouthful. But it wasn’t going to happen.
At least not with this apple.
When I’d first reached into the fruit basket that sits centered on my kitchen table, I specifically chose this apple because it had the tiniest of bruises on one side. It was miniscule – nothing to warrant tossing the whole thing in the trash – just noticeable enough to barely see. Barely. I knew it wouldn’t be best to let it sit for any longer so I grabbed it casually and assumed I’d just cut away that small section with a fruit knife and enjoy the rest.
When I sliced it into 8 wedges with my apple cutter, I was shocked to find brown, decay seeping all the way through to the core on every side. That small bruise on the outside wasn’t an accurate indication of all that was happening on the inside. There was so much more.
More than meets the eye.
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What I can see is not the limit of what God is doing. Just because I only detect something small doesn’t mean that there isn’t something more significant brewing back behind the curtain that divides the temporal from the eternal. With Him, there is always more than meets the eye – more happening behind the scenes, underneath the surface and beyond physical sight. Eyes have not seen and ears have not heard neither has it even entered into our hearts all that God can and will do on our behalf (1 Cor. 2:9). Which means, if we allow our confidence to rest in only that which we can measure or document or quantify with our five physical senses we’ll never have a full grasp of God’s work.
Elijah was good at this.
After a drought ravaged Israel for many years, the Lord decided to send rain. A good thunderstorm was exactly what this agricultural nation needed but it certainly looked doubtful. The sky was blue, clear and cloudless. There was nothing that seemed to indicate the downpour that Elijah was predicting.
Except. . . Except. . .
. . .a “cloud as small as a man’s hand arising out of the sea” (1 Kings 18:44)
What? That’s it? It almost couldn’t even qualify as an official cloud really. Maybe just a wisp or puff or haze or cloud fragment but certainly no thunderstorm producing real, actual cloud.
Miniscule.
Tiny.
Insignificant.
That is all Elijah could see. . . but it’s all he needed to.
For behind it lay a thunderstorm just waiting to happen and no matter how infinitesimal this feathery white dust appeared, he knew that there was more where that came from. Elijah wasn’t fooled by the “small”. He knew that just like my tarnished apple, this little visible sign was only an indicator of so much more. In fact, he was so sure that rain was coming that he sent his servant to tell King Ahab to hurry and make his next journey quickly or he’d be caught in the storm.
Wonder how Elijah’s servant must have felt while going to give that message to the King of Israel. They’d not seen rain in 3 years and now there was only a white dot in the sky and Elijah wanted the King – the King – in all his “royal-ness” to hurry and run for cover?
Oh yes he did.
And it turned out to be pretty good advice because “In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds and there was a great rain…” (1 Kings 18:45)
It takes someone of extreme discernment and insight to see the beginnings of a hurricane when there’s only a make-shift cloud in the sky. It requires faith to believe that rain is coming just because God said so – to trust that He is able to bring about that which He has promised even when there is no evidence to support it.
Today, remember that the little cloud that seems so . . well. . .little. . is pointing to a storm of promise, potential and possibility that is brewing in your life. There is more where that came from my friend. So much more.
God Is Able….even when you can’t see it.
God is Able…even when you can’t tell it.
God is Able. . even when you can’t feel it.
God is Able. . even when you can’t hear it.
He’s doing more than you can ask or imagine….behind the scenes. . .out of sight . . . where so much of His best work takes place.
