'Surely the LORD is here' - Mission Aviation Fellowship

‘Surely the LORD is here’

‘Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”’ (Genesis 28:16, NLT)

We often rush through life unaware that God is present and that He is with us every moment of the day. Like Jacob, we may only realise this afterwards, saying to ourselves, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it.’

This devotion invites us to awaken ourselves to God’s presence, whether that’s in times of stillness, of looking at His creation or in journeying through the ordinary, everyday things of life.

We recently had a visit from David and Caroline Moore who’ve served with MAF in Papua New Guinea (PNG) for over six years. Their insights into PNG culture were fascinating.

Although the country still significantly undervalues women — often leading to gender-based violence — there are many international efforts seeking to challenge these traditional inequalities.

MAF staff often experience this through their need to carry out medical emergency airlifts for vulnerable women suffering from domestic abuse.

‘All is good’

David and Caroline also spoke about some of the parts of PNG culture that they’ve really grown to love. PNG’s people have an amazing ability to find joy in the moment.

As Caroline explained, ‘They don’t rush on, thinking about tomorrow or next week, they just say, “Today I am well, and all is good.”’

I think that we in the West find it increasingly difficult to live in the moment and find joy in the ordinary things of life. Our frantic lifestyles, technology, clutter, paperwork and bureaucracy mean we can never really switch off.

There also seems to be a relentless pressure on us to be more ‘productive’. But more of everything often only provides us with more things with which to concern ourselves.

The things we heard from Caroline and David reminded us that joy and an awareness of God aren’t bound by circumstances or culture. In fact, Scripture invites everyone to slow down and notice the divine in the normal, commonplace things that make up our day-to-day existence.

Be still

The verse, ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:1) is an instruction to both our minds and bodies to slow down, stop our restless striving, and become aware of God’s existence. But how do we do this? The Bible provides some simple answers:

‘See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you — you of little faith?’ (Matthew 6:28-30, NIV)

Look to God’s creation and let it speak to you about His care and provision. Let it also speak of God’s creative power and His ability to work on His people’s behalf.

‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things’ (Philippians 4:8, NIV).

Practise looking for the good in every situation. By doing so, we can then tune our hearts to look for and find the fingerprints of God all around us.
‘Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!”’ (Genesis 26:16, NLT)

The popular Christian writer CS Lewis wrote that, ‘We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labour is to remember, to attend. In fact, to come awake. Still more, to remain awake.’

God is to be found in the ordinary and the extraordinary, whether we’re folding laundry, gardening, posting a letter, or praying for the sick. Any situation in which we can find Him is holy. Indeed, ‘the world is crowded with Him.’

I pray that we will all learn how to find more joy in the moment and that, rather than worrying about tomorrow, we will just focus on today. I pray too that we’ll fill our minds with goodness and truth and will become more aware of Jesus’ presence in all things.

Response

Think about the last 48 hours, pondering on all the ways that God was there ‘incognito’, as CS Lewis described.
Don’t forget to sign up for our Global week of Prayer. We’ll be praying for the nations we serve, celebrating 80 years of prayer and hearing from staff in our programmes. Visit our website www.maf-uk.org/80-prayers

‘Surely the LORD is here’

‘All is good’

Be still

Response

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