What Is Not Seen

Read--Matthew 13:33

As I reflect back on my own call to ministry, I am often amazed at the moments, insignificant at the time, when God was working on me and leading me toward what I'm doing now. I'm guessing that most of us can look back to different points in life and can see, in hindsight, how God was in middle of things. Therein lies one of the biggest mysteries, and at times, frustrations, of God. We like to think of God as the Awesome One that will swoop in and save the day. We look to God to do the miraculous and unimaginable. All in all, we imagine God as being front and center and commanding attention. But there are times when God doesn't work that way...and that frustrates the dickens out of us!

While it is easy to see the big and miraculous things God is doing, those things God does out of view are just as, if not, more momentous. This is the lesson in the Parable of the Leaven. In the parable, a woman takes a bit of yeast and mixes it with three measures (roughly eight gallons) of flour. Over time, that little bit of yeast works its way through those three measures of flour and enables it to become dough for bread, but only if it is properly covered. The leaven works in secret to bring about something big. So it is with the kingdom of God.

We cannot always see God at work. We cannot always know exactly what God is doing, or when God is going to bring something to fruition. God is working in hidden ways in the life of each person--indeed, the life of the world!--to bring about restoration, healing, and renewal. Part of God's grace is God working with who we are right now to bring about what God desires us to be--just like yeast working in flour to bring about dough for bread. Part of the journey of faith is trusting in what God is doing in secret and knowing that even if we can't or don't see it, God is actively working in our life, in our church, and our world. Only in the future will we be able to look back and see what God has done.
Holy God, like the yeast works through flour, work through this life of ours. Grant us your grace to trust in your hidden doings and your working to make each person a new creation in Christ. Prepare us to become what you desire. AMEN.