Why I Write, Part 2 (or, Knowing God Will Bless Our Work)
My son participated in a community-wide summer youth orchestra and concert. During his practices I went to the gym after dropping him off. One week when I entered the locker room to stow my gear, I noticed a man looking a bit lost. There were other men nearby, but for some reason, he approached me and told me his lock didn’t fit on the lockers.
He’d been trying a locker with a bent padlock loop so I tested his lock on another locker…right next to my usual one. It worked and he was pleased and thankful.
On my next visit to the gym, I noticed his lock on my favorite locker. “Really?,” I thought. “Of all the lockers in this room, he took mine?” I saw him after my workout and we chatted a bit. His name is Will. I found out he usually exercises in a gym 15 miles south of mine, but his daughter was also in the same summer orchestra as my son. (Still, I wondered why he chose my locker.)
The third time I saw him at the gym (using my locker), I handed him an announcement card for the summer musical at my church. He was very interested and appreciative. After that exchange, I never saw him in the gym again. In the final days of orchestra practices, I noticed him while waiting to pick up my son and I found out he bought tickets to the show for his entire family.
What happened with Will's family at the musical and thereafter, I don’t know. I may never know. But I know it wasn’t by chance that Will needed my help (and borrowed my favorite locker.) God planned it all so that Will’s family could hear the gospel at my church, and maybe enjoy an everlasting life with God.
One great thing about taking steps that matter in God’s kingdom is that they are not wasted.
God blesses that kind of sacrifice, no matter how big or small it is.
This is my 24th blog post and I admit I occasionally wonder if it’s worthwhile. In Why I Write, Part 1, I shared that God called me to teach and write, and that I would write until He tells me to stop. But my human side wonders at times. I’m not sure how many people read my blog articles or my quick thoughts on social media.
But God blesses our work when it’s His work. He redeemed my somewhat irritated invitation to Will at the gym. He encourages people through my writing. And He whispered reassurance and hope into the hearts of two women named Naomi and Ruth. They committed their lives to His service and He blessed their sacrifice. As it was in the story of Baby Moses (see Part 1), coincidence and irony were also prominent characters in Naomi and Ruth’s story (Ruth 1-4).
Our perspectives are limited and sometimes we perceive coincidences as isolated events. But there is great potential in coincidences because God is behind them. When we feel the urge to say, “Oh no,” or “Not again,” or “Are you kidding me?,” we should make an effort to acknowledge God’s hand in the situation. We may not always understand where He’s going with the coincidence, but we can be sure He’s up to something.
Naomi struggled to see God’s involvement in a very desperate phase of her life. She left a comfortable situation when a famine urged her to move away from Bethlehem with her husband and two sons. Her husband eventually died. Sometime later, her sons married, then they also died. The famine ended, and Naomi finally returned home with one of her daughters-in-law named Ruth. When her friends and family greeted her, she said, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara.” (Mara means bitter.)
God used irony to get Naomi’s attention. Sometimes He slows us down to get our attention
because He wants to do something big, like He did with Naomi (Ruth 1:13, 20-21).
Naomi dreaded bitter days ahead, but God was already working out a better set of coincidences. Long story short, a relative named Boaz discovered Ruth in his field scraping up any grain left behind by his harvesters. The two hit it off as their paths were supernaturally woven together with heart-capturing scenes from a magical romance. So, Boaz went through all the necessary steps to marry Ruth, including the purchase of Naomi’s land. Of course, the plot thickened with the threat of another relative who had first dibs on the land (and Ruth). But God quickly dissipated that irony, and Boaz even got the other man’s sandal to boot. (Pun intended. Read Ruth to get the full story.)
God not only speaks through coincidence (see Part 1), He also reminds us that He stands behind His work. One of the ways He does this is by using coincidence to direct our faith and appreciation towards Him. He gives us confidence that we are walking the path he laid out for us as individuals. Think about how that is sometimes true for you.
In the throes of devastation, Naomi found rich blessing and renewed hope. God uses coincidence to bless us and give us hope. When we know He is at work, we recognize his hand in our experiences, and, if we watch closely, we also notice that the blessings and outcomes extend far beyond ourselves.
Naomi became a grandmother, and her grandson became the grandfather of the great war hero and psalmist, King David, God's chosen king. Once bitter and empty, she experienced unimaginable fullness: revitalization, a support system, and a grandson who catalyzed the lineage of her nation. Naomi was blessed as the guardian of David’s grandfather. (I wonder what lessons she taught her grandson Obed, whose name means servant and worshiper, a name that somehow also describes Naomi and Ruth.)
Why do I write? The short answer is because I know God wants me to. He told me this in many ways, much of which included coincidence. I also know, as I watch what happens around me, that God blesses His work, which keeps me writing, regardless of the number of 'likes' I might (or might not) see. When we commit to God and do His work, He blesses us along with others who may be involved in the work and with those who become beneficiaries of the work.
So, I hope as we transition from this post into our everyday lives, we can:
Acknowledge that God manages the events in our lives. Enjoy the hope that accompanies interesting twists of events. Expect God to follow up hope with blessing. Imagine how God’s plans extend way beyond our worlds.
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