Here is something I have been thinking about the last few days. Do we miss God working in our lives because we are not looking for it? Or maybe it’s because we are looking for our answer and not His?  I was reading in Psalms earlier this week.  This is what King David said in Psalms 5:3 “O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.”  Did you catch those last two words?  “And watch” when David prayed, he expected God to act or work.  That got me thinking, do I?  A couple of days later I read Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord, Himself will give you a sign.  Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”  Okay, I know at first glance these two verses don’t seem to have anything in common, but bear with me while I try to explain.  What we know today, because history tells us, is that most of the “religious” people of Jesus’ time didn’t recognize Him as the promised Messiah, this same sign Isaiah spoke about.  They read these scriptures on a regular basis, so it’s not that they didn’t know.  Maybe it was because they weren’t looking?  Or do you think it’s because He was not what they were expecting?  Maybe, a bit of both?

There were several mornings last week when it was super foggy.  So much so that you had to really look and watch for traffic and pedestrians.  Taking a quick glance like we normally do, wasn’t good enough, the fog was so thick that if we didn’t look intently we just might miss something.  One day on a morning run I noticed the same thing.  I had to pay closer attention to what was going on around me.  I didn’t want to get hit or miss something in my path.  Then I realized that so much of my life I live on auto-pilot.  I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  When I drive places, I don’t really think about how to get there, I just go because normally I’m going to the same places (work, school, church, grocery store, etc.).  Even walking through hallways or stores, we kind of know what to expect so we (at least I don’t) really look around that much.  I don’t pay close attention.  Sadly the same can be true when we go to church and read the Bible.  Do I really go or read expecting to hear from God?  Or are we simply going through the motions?  When we pray do we then “watch” as David did for Him to answer or work?  Do we miss His working because we have tunnel vision and are only looking for the answer we want?

For me, this was the point where I was forced to face the question of why don’t I expect or even look?  And if I do look, do I look at watch intently?  Again, for me I feel like it comes down to lack of trust and wanting my own way.  While this may seem simplistic I think that is where it all begins.  This is something that I will continue to pray about and work through.  What about you?  Do you look for God to work after you pray?  Are you willing to consider answers that are not what you would choose?