Mysterious Ways, Porpoises and Manatees

William Cowper, [pronounced Cooper] was a poet and a hymnist. He was responsible for penning the words to some 66 hymns and poems of praise that took the Church in England to great heights of worship. It’s interesting to note that although Cowper encouraged others to find love, peace & joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, he suffered from times of very deep melancholy and depression. In fact, one night when he was in a particularly dark mood of depression and despair, he decided that he was going to end his life by jumping into the Thames River. Fortunately, God intervened. As he wandered the streets of London, looking for a bridge off of which to jump, the city was covered with an extremely thick fog. Cowper searched almost all night for a bridge. He stumbled blindly thru the fog, only to end up on the doorstep of his own home. After that episode, Cowper penned the words of a hymn that rings so true still today.

“God moves in a mysterious way,
   

His wonders to perform;
   

He plants his footsteps in the sea,
   

And rides upon the storm.”

“His purposes will ripen fast,
   

Unfolding every hour;
   

The bud may have a bitter taste,
   

But sweet will be the flower."

It’s so easy to wander the streets of life looking for a moving of God’s power. One look around the church landscape and we wonder if He even goes to church any more. I realize when 2 or 3 are gathered in His name the Scriptures promise He is in their midst, but many times we gather in written name only, not according to the character of His name. Make no mistake however, God still moves in mysterious ways. A lot of times though, He’s not moving where we’re looking. But that doesn’t change the fact that there’s a mighty move of God that is in full swing and hasn’t stopped since the day Jesus said “It is finished”. I admit that at times I don’t understand it… but the Bible says His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts. To think that we have to fully understand, or can fully understand what He is doing is quite presumptions on our part though, don’t you think. I submit to you that what we so often try to do is keep Him in the nice little box we’ve constructed to house his presence. You know, that place we figure we can control what He does, how He does it, and what the end result will be. Sometimes those little boxes have steeples and crosses sitting on top of them. We call them churches, but they’re actually little boxes we’ve built in an attempt to hide away in our religious comfort zones.

How many times do we refuse to step outside our comfort zones because we’re convinced that Jesus doesn’t operate in the unknown. I’m not saying that He necessarily wants us to try to be like everybody else, but how many times do we automatically write off everybody that is different than us? But the things that we reject as being uncomfortable and out there on the edge aren’t a risk for Jesus. He’s comfortable operating in the realm of the uncomfortable, unknown.

I believe there are also times when we’ve incorrectly believed that we have to conform to some earthly pattern or some denominational doctrine in order to experience the mysterious moving of God. That’s not the truth either. God moves in every arena that will proclaim the name of Jesus and boldly share the message of the Gospel. He is simply looking for those who have hearts that are diligently seeking the truth and will hear His voice of truth. You don’t have to follow any person, any movement, or any breakout of the Spirit’s moving; simply be obedient to the voice of truth. I believe that if your heart is truly set on having an encounter with The Lord of the Universe, it can happen in your bedroom, in the synagogue, in the church, in a revival, in the car, in the backyard, or any place else where you finally surrender to the power of the Lord… The place isn’t important. It’s your focus on His active presence and the fact that He wants to consume your total being… To take control and use you as an instrument of His peace, His healing, His grace and His love.

Several years ago my family and I were on vacation in Destin, Florida. We took a small pontoon boat out to an area to do some snorkeling in a beautiful area filled with all sorts of colorful fish and sea life. On the way out, our boat was surrounded by a group of porpoises. These gentle creatures were almost like an escort for our party, leading us to water that was clear and calm. The truth about porpoises however, is that they are viscous hunters. My buddy Jay Liner was telling me this week how they will actually work together to push fish up on the shore. When the fish hit the dry land, they are totally out of their comfort zones. They can’t breathe without the water and they can’t really move without swimming. So what do they do? They give up essentially, and are quickly consumed by their pursuer – the porpoise. The porpoise will hit the dry land chasing after these fish. But being out of the water doesn’t harm the porpoise. It doesn’t breathe water; it breathes air. So it’s not out of its comfort zone. It consumes dinner and then waits for the waves to wash it back into the deep.

I think God wants to push us all out of our comfort zones. He wants to take us where we’ve never been. He will do whatever it takes, to include pushing us to our end so that we will have no other place to go but to Him.  And because of His great love for us, He is tenacious in His pursuit. He never gives up the chase. He’s not trying to drive us to follow a person or follow a flurry of miraculous acts. He wants to push us to the end of our defenses to the place where we are helplessly desperate for Him. And when we reach that place, like Cowper, we’ll know it because we will behold His mysterious ways in our own lives. Where is that place? I’m not sure but you’ll know when you get there. It may be a place where you’ve exhausted all means to take care of your problems on your own. And in desperation you cry out to Him from a heart that’s broken and isn’t trying to tell Him when and how He has to move in your life. It may be simply in a time of quiet personal worship or when you’re together with other believers focusing solely on the Lord and not all the things around you. One thing is for sure – He’ll do whatever is necessary to encounter you if you are truly seeking Him.

Unfortunately, I think that many of us over the years haven’t been truly seeking an encounter with Him. When you encounter Jesus, your life will be changed. We’d rather not be changed. We’d rather stay in control. That’s why we’re staying in the safe zone, seeking the trivial things of man. We’ve been seeking the religious dogma of denominationalism. We’ve been following after things that we perceive as miracles, signs and wonders instead of following the Lord of Hosts. The Bible clearly tells us that the evidence of God’s presence follows those who know Him. But I’m not so sure that God’s presence always accompanies those who only seek out another thrill or another miracle dog and pony show… Oh people! That our hearts would yearn for the Lord who is the Lover of our souls! Because the organized church today seems to not have that fervent love and desire to encounter Christ alone, the mysterious ways of the Lord have all but disappeared from among us. We don’t expect it any more. We don’t evangelize as passionately as the early church. We’ve become hunted by Satan, driven into the dark corners and rendered ineffective instead of chased by God and consumed by His Spirit.

There’s another mammal in Florida called the Manatee. They’re sometimes called sea cows. They’re large, lethargic type mammals that are vulnerable to extinction. But they’re not being wiped out by natural enemies. Their numbers are quickly dropping due to being struck by boats and slashed with propellers. Some get entangled in the nets of fishermen or swallow monofilament fishing line that often clogs the digestive system and slowly kills them. Because they are inactive and just lay around under the surface of the water, they are prone to every sort of danger in the ocean. Unfortunately that resembles a lot of believers today as well. We’ve gotten comfortable in our “Holy Huddles”, sitting around singing Kum-Bah-Yah, holding hands and encouraging each other to hang in there and hang out until Jesus Comes. As a result, we’re prone to many of the enemy’s attacks. Our focus is on ourselves and inwardly focused ministries, not outwardly focused evangelism and taking the gospel to the streets. So we lay around, basking in the ecumenical practice of our “faith”, believing God is smiling on us and pleased that we would care enough to show up once a week, toss Him a tip in the offering plate, and sit thru a sermon… And we’ve become spiritually shallow, weak, lethargic, slow, living with shallow dreams, and vulnerable to extinction.

But praise God, there’s a rumbling in the air… there’s a storm arising. And I find myself more and more frequently praying, “Rain down! Rain down! Let Your power fall. Let Your voice be heard! Come and change our hearts as we stand on Your Word! Holy Spirit, rain down!” God is issuing a clarion call for the bride to prepare for the bridegroom. And He’s sending us out into the field to bring in those whom He is inviting to be a part of the wedding party – the lost, the beaten down, the oppressed, the captives… And I believe He is raising up a new generation of hungry Christians in the world today. Believers who are tired of the same old religious junk they’ve been a part of in the past. They’re tired of dreaming hollow dreams. They’re willing to say as Bob Moorhead so eloquently penned, “I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, chintzy giving, dwarf goals. I do not need preeminence. Prosperity, position, prominence, plaudits or popularity. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded or rewarded.” [I am hungry Lord. I want to] “… live by Your presence, lean by faith, walk with patience, lift by prayer and labor by power… I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I will not give up, shut up, or letup, until I’ve stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ!”

“I will not look back, slow down, back away or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is secure…” because it’s in your hands Jesus… that’s the realm of the unknown and you’ve got that under control. Let our prayer be “Lord, stir us… Lord move us… Lord tear down the strongholds that bind us and keep us away from your glory… Lord, forgive us for allowing the precious presence of your Spirit to somehow become so familiar to some and so frightening to others because of the abuses of sinful men, that we have tried to do this thing in our own power… Teach us to take our eyes off of the things of this world, to include the preachers, prophets, people, the church members, the evangelists, etc… and help us to keep our focus on you and you alone… Lord help your moving power not to become extinct in the Church because we have bought into a form of Religion and denied the power that you sent to be our source of strength and comfort. It’s all about you Jesus… I’m hungry for You… I’m thirsty for You… I surrender to your work – NO MATTER WHAT! WHAT EVER IT TAKES!”

So… Are you ready? Will you pray that bold prayer today?

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