The Obvious Choice

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen,

but on what is unseen,

since what is seen is temporary,

but what is unseen is eternal.

- 2 Corinthians 4:18

Whenever we ask or believe God for something, we desire a clear answer.  A "yes, go ahead" or a "No girl, hold up. This ain't for you. But I can't be the only one that noticed that God doesn't work like that. He will not always give us that clear yes or that undeniable no. Even when everything looks bad and everything is speaking against it, that may still be the exact place God will want you. We always want that earthquake, that whirlwind or that fire when we hear from Him. But that never seems to be the case with God. Why is that so, you ask? Because God is not a God of the obvious choice.

Just reading the Bible we can just tell that God never chose the easy or the obvious way. Everyone was waiting eagerly for the Messiah. They were expecting a great and mighty King. That He would come and defeat all their oppressors. But there came Jesus lying in a manger, born of a virgin into an "ordinary" family. The expectation would have been for the son of God to come to this earth on a great cloud, clothed in expensive clothes, accompanied by a bunch of angels. But that's not what God chose to do. Instead, Jesus hung out with tax collectors, demon possessed and prostitutes. That's not what they wanted to see because it didn't match their expectations. Maybe that's one of the reasons why it is so hard for people to believe God. Because His choice doesn't always match our expectations.

But we don't want to be this kind of people. People of little faith and of simple minds and with hardened hearts. People who will only believe when we see miracles, signs and wonders. So let's look at some important things we can apply to our lives to not become people of the obvious choice.

1.) Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit

If you always wait for God's audible voice before you move, 

you'll end up paralysed.

Walk in the direction of wisdom and peace.

- Amanda Pittman

To know someone really well means to be aware of their likes and dislikes. By building a strong and intimate relationship with God, you will get to know His Character, meaning His Spirit. And you will get to know His will for you which by the way is good and pleasing and perfect. When you know someone really well you can sense something in their spirit without them necessarily having to say anything. You are able to sense when something is wrong, sense when they are nervous or afraid. And that's exactly what our relationship with God needs to be like. We need to be sensitive to His Spirit in order to sense what it is He wants us to do next. To do something we're not 100% sure of is what we call stepping out on Faith. It is okay to not always know everything, but still, do it and start from somewhere. But as believers, we always need to leave that extra room for the Holy Spirit to correct and redirect us. We need to pray for discernment to know and recognise the Spirit of God. So that even when God doesn't speak to us through angels and by appearing in a fire, we are still able to understand His wisdom and His peace that come with His Spirit.

2.) Don't always look for the supernatural and the extraordinary

In the Gospel of Luke 4:16-19 it says in this scripture that Jesus went to the synagogue as was His custom. This means there was nothing special about that. Jesus offered to read the scripture. Also not very spectacular. But they handed Him the scroll of Isaiah the Prophet. And this is where the extraordinary took place. What made this moment special was what Jesus read. It wasn't just a prophesy that was randomly handed to Him. It was the fulfilment of the word of God. People act like believers are crazy for thanking God for catching the bus or blessing Him for food on our tables. We do this because we're no longer looking for the supernatural and the extraordinary. Jesus Christ alive in us puts the extra on our ordinary and the super on our natural. The moment we stop looking for God in clouds and blazing flashes of lightning but see His wonder in the breath He gave us and in nature itself, we will actually meet God. God's choice may not be obvious but it sure is visible. We just need to ask God to open our spiritual eyes to see Him in our school, jobs, communities and in our everyday lives.

For we walk by Faith and not by sight.

- 2. Corinthians 5:7

3.) Try to see the bigger picture

I believe that if something is from God you won't have to force it. You don't have to betray for it, beg for it, lie for it. None of that. So whenever we obey God and things are not just magically falling into place, we think God might have forgotten about us. When we step out on faith and do the things God has called us to do, we expect everything to work out well for us immediately. Things will work out for us eventually but they may still get rough at one point or the other. 

 And we know that God causes 

everything to work together for the good 

of those who love God and are called

 according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

If we serve God, obey His will, walk under His calling over our lives, it is natural for us to believe that everything should be smooth and easy for us. But that's not the God we serve. We still need to dare ourselves to keep up the Faith when everything doesn't really look so good for us. When the obvious isn't what we would like it to be. We need to try to see the bigger picture and thank God that everything is not always what it looks like.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

  - Isaiah 55:9

4.) Don't be a person of the obvious choice

The natural thing to do when bad things happen is to react with fear, doubt and anger. But that's pretty obvious, don't you think? To praise God when He says no. To say 'I am going through a lot of stuff but you're still God'. To say ' I am not exactly sure what it is You're doing right now Lord. But I'll still surrender my will to you'. That's that Faith that will confuse the devil. That will drive the enemy crazy. That's the character of God. Can you imagine the Joy of the Pharisees when they nailed Jesus to the cross? They thought this was His end. But if only they knew that the cross would become the symbol of love, life,  grace and forgiveness for all, they would have stopped right then and there. What may look over might just be the beginning of something big. Because what the enemy means for evil, God turns to good. Just trust God even when it doesn't look like anything's working, and know that He is not a God of the obvious choice.