I Just Don't See It

 

It did not appear that we were looking at anything.  But we were.

About one mile on the skinny little road through Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, people had parked on the gravel shoulder to view an old homestead.  But there was something else to see.

One by one, a crowd had convened, observing from a walking path, a large black bear out in the field eating blackberries.   The tall grasses, weeds and bushes mostly blocked our view, but the bear was there.  We could tell exactly where he was by the movement of the foliage as he passed through. The tall weeds waved. The bushes shook. And occasionally, his head popped up.

At one point when the bear suddenly came into sight, the man standing next to me spontaneously lifted our seven-year-old grandson up to his shoulders so that he would not miss the majesty of this moment, a black bear in the wild.  Afterwards, the man apologized.  “I should have asked your permission to do that, but I was just so excited.”

After watching for a while, a woman passed by.  “What is everyone looking at?”  she asked.  “A black bear,” I replied.   “I just don’t see it,” she remarked as she walked away, unimpressed.

Is that how we see prayer?  Is that how we view God?  “Move on.  Nothing to see here.”

It made me think about all the wonders of the Almighty we miss because we too are not praying or paying attention. Do we just explain away the unusual?  Are we not willing to wait and watch for Him?

But for You, O LORD, do I wait; it is You, O Lord my God, who will answer.  Psalm 38.15

Those who pray and wait always witness God’s response in one way or another. Most often in unexpected ways.  Always in His timing, never late, and not in ours. Always in His own ways, God reveals Himself to us.  It is not that we wait for God, but He is really waiting for us to catch up with Him or to be ready for what is ahead.

When we pray, we see differently because we acknowledge the Almighty.  We know that He is working.  When we pray, God does not set anything into motion.  He helps us to notice the music of the spheres already composed.  God invites us into deeper dimensions that are all around us.

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?  Job 12. 9

When we pray, we recognize the evidence of God’s Presence among us.  The grasses wave.  The bushes move back and forth.  God may bring His response into full view – and we are amazed by it.  But whether we see a physical manifestation, the outcome, His unfolding or not, God is still here.  Do we ignore Him or just explain Him away? 

“I just don’t see it,” the woman dismissed what was right in front of her.

As I was running on that same nature loop, probably now a decade ago, rangers had stopped cars and people to let a mother bear and her cubs meander across the road. The group of spectators was silenced by the magnificence of this rare occasion, mesmerized by the scene.  A young man was standing next to me, his little red-headed five-year-old daughter on his shoulders.  ,

I imagine that all her life she had seen cartoons and story books, and people had told her about these furry animals.  But until she saw bears in person, they were only so many pictures and words. The little girl turned to me, wide-eyed.  “They’re real,” she exclaimed. 

I wanted to tell her, “So is God.” 

Our praying doesn’t prove God exists.  But our praying helps us to know that He is real.  Because God changes us by praying.  We don’t just believe in Him, we know Him, we see Him and His fingerprints all around us.  In prayer, God opens up the wonders even in what appears an ordinary day or a familiar field. 

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name… Psalm 29.2 

Whether the grasses wave, the bushes shake, or we see Him move, we know that He is here.  He is as real as He can be.  Prayer acknowledges His abiding.  

Even when it does not appear that we are looking at anything.  But we are.

You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your might among the peoples.  Psalm 77. 14