Most people like life to be predictable.
We want our ducks to be efficiently, neatly lined up. We want to be pretty, prim, proper, and punctual and have our children behave in quite obedience.
Many times I have heard people say, “All I want is a normal life.” When I hear people say that, I can tell they have watched too many episodes of the Andy Griffith Show.
Let’s look at the normal life of some biblical characters.
Queen Esther risked her life, obeyed the Holy Spirit and helped to accomplish a national victory for her people. Ruth courageously trusted her mother-in-law, moved to Israel where she gathered leftover grain in the fields. All of which led to her marriage to Boaz and gave her a son who was an ancestor of both King David and the Messiah.
Now let’s consider the “normal life” of Rebecca who offered a man a drink of water then watered his 10 camels, which was no small task. Little did she know that a short time later she would be leaving her family to go marry a man named Isaac and be known as the mother of thousands of millions of offspring who would possess the gates of their enemies (Genesis 24).
How about the “normal life” of Miriam (Mary), who actually conceived by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Savior of the world? Or how about the “normal life” of Mary Magdalene who had seven evil spirits cast out of her?
Would you like to have a normal life like that? Not many people realized that the normal life of a true believer is a life of supernatural exploits, anointed words and anointed actions, all interwoven between times of doubt, despair, anguish and perplexities.
Take for instance the life of Abraham. A major event in his normal life consisted of his leaving his father and mother and going to a strange land.
When this took place he and his wife were 75 and 65 years old respectively. Sarah was so attractive at this age that the Egyptian Pharaoh tried to take her for his wife. Even at age 90, King Abimelech desired her for his wife as well. Then the following year, to her surprise, she had a son whom she named Isaac.
One day a blind man was brought to Yahshua to have his sight restored. After Yahshua spit in his eye, he was completely healed (Mark 9). Just another day in the life of a believer.
What about a normal minister’s life?
In Acts 12 we read about James being killed, while Peter was miraculously saved. Did James do something wrong that caused his death? No, neither did Stephen, nor John the Baptist.
Putting your life on the line is a major part of the job description for a normal believer.
Many supernatural exploits go completely unnoticed, or unrecognized. Miriam (Mary) saw (even experienced) lots of supernatural things take place, but she kept these things in her heart. Why? Because nobody would have believed her anyway, even if she had tried to explain.
Remember the story of Samson? He was quite a case, yet in prison he humbled himself and rededicated his life to his Creator.
The prophet Zechariah describes the normal pattern of history, when he refers to the scattering (dispersing, winnowing) of Israel by the powers that be (Zechariah 1). The author of the book of Revelation mentions a similar situation with a great red dragon chasing the woman into the wilderness.
In the 1600’s the Pilgrims fled the religious persecution in England and came to America. Today most of us like to identify with this hardy group of people. However, in their day they were the off-scouring of the world.
They came to America to find a quiet place to raise their children away from worldly influences, but many of those children died.
William Bradford’s wife fell or jumped over board and drowned while the men were on land preparing the settlement. At one point during the early years, their daily ration of corn was three kernels per person. Some people got so hungry they ate the leather straps off the storage boxes that were used as hinges. They could easily have still been living fairly comfortably in England if they had submitted to King James and the Church of England.
Many people read novels for entertainment; however the truth is far stranger than fiction.
Multitudes of people are looking for someone to show them the way. Let’s be the ones to convey hope to a lost, confused, hopeless, helpless generation of people.
Trouble often makes us face reality, but let’s pray before we get sick and let’s praise Him for what we already have. Let’s serve Him now. Corrie Ten Boom let her light shine during WW2, but her light was already shining before trouble came. Now is the time to get your lamp burning.