The Daily Dilemma

When we reach the conclusion of a day, do we give much thought to how it went from God's perspective?   There seem to be two non-Biblical takes on a day.  The first is that God really doesn't care much how it went.  It seems laughable to many that anyone would even attempt to ascertain God's view of experiences and reactions.  Commentators mock the fools who claim God gave them victory in sporting events or brought them success at what they did.  The other view is that everything always goes just as God wants it to go and so each decision made and every circumstance is divinely determined and thus "His will".  And yet the Scripture seems to be in neither of these two camps.  God is presented as angry at how some things go and pleased as punch on other occasions.  The details of the day seem to matter to the Lord; they aren't just meaningless minutia or orchestrated point by point as God determines.  We can really decide to turn left or right and in the examples of life lived out in actualities we find in Scripture, God cares which way the people go.  It genuinely seems to sadden and anger God that Israelites bend into paganism and He appears really happy when a single sinner repents and turns to Him for help.  It may appear clownish for a young wife to pray her husband like the meal she prepares or for a basketball player to pray he win his game but even if such praying is immature, it isn't for the reasons often voiced.  We are told to pray for God to intervene in our circumstances; no parameters are set for us.  And if things cannot and do not turn ever on our praying, then what an absurdity it is for the Lord to tell us to pray for our daily bread and the "whatsoevers" of our day.  It is meaningless noise if everything is set in stone by the will of God or not even noticed by Him.  As a young scholar stretches his vocabulary by reading great works and an athlete builds her strength by pushing her muscles to the limit, so we build intimacy with God and develop holiness by turning to Him for the breadiness of our minutes and hours.  Each day is filled with a multitude of "daily bread" moments that God wants us to bring before Him and admit our need for His help.   Why does an old man go to a doctor for medication if not because in his maturity he recognizes his limitations and admits his poverty?  Have we so little faith and are we so childish that we do not have it in us to persist in knocking and seeking and asking?  Are we so calloused by our troubles and failures that we no longer have space in our day to go to God and expect Him to have at least as much concern for what we face as us?  Is God not god enough to care for you and want to wrap you in His arms in a tender embrace ?  Do you not think He celebrates with you your victories and weeps over your defeats?  Aren't you aware of how much He cares about your reaction to the temptation you face, what you decide about your long-standing grudges and how you respond to your critic?  It is odd, just based on what is clearly evident in Scripture, that any believer would dismiss the possibility that God has something to say about His day.  And it seems to be an absurdity that He would do nothing to try to ascertain what His thoughts might be!

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.     Mark 4:38-39 NIV