Looking For God In All The Wrong Places

Troy Conrad
Troy Conrad

"But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away."

-- Jeremiah 5:23

I had a college friend who's favorite phrase, when presented with anything out of the ordinary, was, "Well, if God wanted ... ."

"If God wanted us to fly we'd have wings."

"If God wanted us to climb stairs we wouldn't have elevators."

"If God wanted us exercise we wouldn't have television."

Even though he invoked God in almost everything, he wouldn't ever let God into his life. He would never go to church because he thought people there were "a bunch of hypocrites." He wouldn't read the Bible because it "was written by a bunch of Pharisees a long time ago." He wouldn't want to talk about faith because that was "beneath" his intelligence.

But ask him to eat a salad and he'd easily say something about God creating cookies.

He believed in God. He just didn't think that God believed in him.

He would tell me that there was no need to pray for something because God was "too busy running the universe and such."

One day I invited him to attend a new church I wanted to try out. "Come on, it'll be fun" I implored.

Finally after asking over and over he told me, "If God wants me to go to church then He'll send me a sign."

How many times have we been guilty of the same stiff-necked and stubborn hearts?

God, if you really want me to help that homeless person then send me a sign. God, if you really want me to get that new job then give me a sign. God, are you even listening to me? Can you send me a sign.

We expect God to work in supernatural ways and because of that we expect supernatural signs.

Like crosses in the sky for Emperor Constantine. Or a blinding light for Paul. Or a talking donkey for Baalam.

But the problem is that's not the way God talks to us.

God talks to us in the breaking of the bread around a family dinner table. God talks to us in the catching of a plastic baseball hit off a plastic tea. God talks to us in tea parties with stuffed animals and Bible stories read from picture books at night.

God talks to us and directs our lives in simple and subtle ways. Showing us how to love our family and friends. How to care for the least and the lost and how to lift up the downtrodden and poor.

God is always talking to us. The problem is we're just not listening. Our ears are focused on the voices in the thundering clouds. Our eyes are looking for the signs from heaven above. And our minds are trained to only see the impossible and improbable.

Because that's the way we think God talks.

A few months after my invitation to church my friend stopped me in the hallway one day. He had walked an aisle and made a profession of faith and was getting baptized and wanted me to go. I told him that was awesome and what had changed his mind.

He said that after I had asked him to go to church about ten others started to ask him to go. One day he told someone, "if God wanted me to go to church he'd have someone give me a ride." When all of a sudden it struck him. Everyone who had asked him to go also offered him a ride.

"I was looking for God in all the wrong places," he said. "When He was here all the time."

Let us pray.

Our gracious God. This day we ask that you open our eyes so that we may see. Open our ears so that we may hear and open our minds so that we may understand all of the ways you work in our lives. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF THE FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. EMAIL: [email protected].

Religion on 10/07/2015