Thursday, September 06, 2007

The Intervention of God in Everyday Lives

As a Christian, I take the Bible literally...composed by people, inspired by the Holy Spirit, writing down the literal thoughts of God. It has not always been easy for me to believe this. Some of the things the Bible says are difficult to accept; some are difficult to understand.

One of the things I've been pondering lately is: how much does God intervene in the everyday affairs of people? Is God primarily an interested observer? Does He take a more active minute-by-minute role? Or is it that God engages with me to the level I'm willing to engage with Him?

I think the Bible gives evidence that God intervenes in daily life. For example, when the Jewish nation was wandering in the desert for 40 years, God provided them with food and water every single day. And yet, even in this I wonder if God got up early and lovingly baked the manna every day, or if He simply automated it, scheduling the manna delivery start and stop date, or perhaps delegating the bread baking to angels.

Psalm 139:13 tells me that God "created my inmost being" and "knit me together in my mother's womb." Does this mean that God still creates every single human being? Because I've often thought that God created Adam and Eve, gave them the ability to procreate, and that was that. But the idea of being personally hand-knit by God is infinitely more wonderful. (I suspect He dropped a couple of stitches when He knit me.)

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