Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the everyday occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:
One morning I woke burdened about the distresses of the world. Hurricane Sandy had hit the East Coast, and the first news photographs were horrendous. I woke off and on throughout the night, interceding for all those Americans who lost everything. Having taken months to clean up after the effects of the derecho that hit our area on June 29, I knew that with the kind of damage I was seeing, it would take years to recover from the effects of that destruction. A kind of low-level distress settled in my soul, unsettling me, bumping me from peace into anxiety.
The psalm I read that morning was Psalm 74. It is a lament over a devastated land—in fact, that is the rubric chosen by the editors of my New Revised Standard Version Bible.
Then, at verse 12, there is a dramatic shift in the psalm. The rubric the editors have chosen to describe this section reads: Assurance of a sovereign God’s power. Verses 12-17:
“Yet, God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the earth.
You divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.
You crushed the heads of the Leviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
You cut openings for springs and torrents;
you dried up ever-flowing streams.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
you established the luminaries and the sun.
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
you made summer and winter.”
In the midst of the most horrific descriptions, the psalmist reminds himself of who God is. It is a startling juxtaposition. So the morning of my anxiety over the suffering of so many on the Jersey Coast, on Long Island and Staten Island and in Manhattan, this day when evidence of a climate shift and what the predicators have forecasted as more and more destructive activity, I prayed this portion of Scripture back to God. A calm settled over me, a security in the unchangeableness of the Unchangeable One.
My intercession for all the suffering of those I do not know and will never meet took on a power of its own. I was certain the God who divided the sea, cleaved open springs and brooks would also reach His compassionate hand into the lives of those now devastated by floods and winds and fires and destructions. Two little boys swept away by the raging waters. Homes lifted off their foundations and shattered. Trees torn from the earth. Gas pipes exploding in flames. More than a hundred homes burned in a conflagration.
“Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the earth.” —Psalm 74:12
I spy God!
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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.
Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.
Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.
For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.
Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.
