Divine Intervention?

I am still reading “Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference” by Philip Yancey. Every day I find something that makes me think in a different way. This passage really hit me:

“I used to spend a lot of energy asking God questions. Why must poverty persist in a rich country like the U.S.A.? Why does one continent, Africa, absorb like a sponge so many of the world’s disasters? When will “peace on earth” ever arrive? Ultimately, I came to see these questions as God’s interrogations of us. Jesus made clear God’s will for the planet—what part am I playing to help fulfill that will?”

You know, I ask these questions, too. Somehow, I expect one of two things when I pray. I either expect God to answer my questions or fix my problems with divine intervention (hopefully in a swift, direct response), or I expect God to show me how to fix my own problem (I like to do it all on my own, anyway). But it never ceases to amaze me how big God really is. I continually need to be reminded that every one of us is interconnected with God and with each other. God uses each of us in an intricate web to help bring about his will in each situation.

One of my favorite books is “The Count of Monte Cristo”. It is a classic, written long before my time, yet it is still intriguing. If you are not familiar with the story, it is about a man who is wrongly imprisoned (he was set up by a friend), and he manages to escape and work out a complex plan to bring down everyone involved in his imprisonment. Most of the story shows him weaving his web of vengeance, and finally, everything falls into place, and it all comes toppling down like a row of dominoes.

In a way, I see God working like that, only with a passion for love and redemption for all of us, instead of vengeance. He sets things in motion that we cannot see or understand. He has a plan to save us way before we even know we are lost. And we each play a role in His master plan to bring about the changes in the lives of others.

I cannot wait until I can see from the other side of this mortal life and can examine the Master plan and can see clearly where I have helped in others’ lives and they have helped in mine. Is God’s method of using human agents to work out His will any less divine than direct intervention? I think not.