When God Swoops In

When was the last time that God overwhelmed you with his majesty? How have you experienced God at work in your life? Can you recall a time that God moved a mountain for you, or opened a door, or protected you from danger?

Is there a critically important day in your life when God showed up and divided time; a day, or an event, when from that moment on, you referred to things as “before” and “after”?

Perhaps your calendar marks the days of sobriety. Perhaps you’re counting the months of remission. Maybe you’re celebrating years of marriage. Perhaps your calendar changed when you gave your life to Jesus.

As Christians we know that God is always with us, and always working in our lives, but sometimes God swoops in and does something so remarkable that it resets the calendar! It’s as if our lives are rebooted, and our life with God seems to take on a new depth.

When God does something amazing, he usually gives us something to help us remember. For example, we participate in Communion to remember the suffering that Jesus endured in our place on the cross. God tells us that we must be proactive about remembering the things that he does, or else we will forget. When we forget… God no longer seems so mighty.

“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God” – Deuteronomy 8:11 NIV

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” – Romans 1:21 NIV

God gave me a song to help me remember one day, June 17, 2013, when he swooped in to help me. It was at a railroad crossing in Ohio at the end of a very long day.

I had given the eulogy for my dad that morning. Brian and our children had returned home. My sister and I needed to go to the funeral home and pick up the flowers. On the way, I happened to look at the oil change sticker on my car and thought, “Dad would have a fit! I’m almost 3,000 miles overdue!” I needed to get to the funeral home before it closed, but I saw a quick oil change place that was open and empty so I turned in. The charge was $62.00. I paid it.

A couple of minutes later, I was sitting at a railroad crossing and it hit me… $62.00 for an oil change? Had I just been ripped off? I felt like I had been fighting spiritual battles all day long; I’d fought through grief, nerves, fear, and now I’d been over charged and would have to explain to Brian why I paid $62.00 for an oil change. That was the last straw. There was nothing left in me but tears, so I started to cry.

Then God swooped in.

At that railroad crossing, trapped, God spoke to both my sister and me through the radio. A song* started to play…

I want to be close, close to Your side
So Heaven is real and death is a lie
I want to hear voices of angels above
Singing as one
Hallelujah, Holy, Holy
God Almighty, the Great I Am
who is worthy, none beside Thee
God Almighty, the Great I Am

I want to be near, near to Your heart
Loving the world and hating the dark
I want to see dry bones living again
Singing as one
Hallelujah, Holy, Holy
God Almighty, the Great I Am
who is worthy, none beside Thee
God Almighty, the Great I Am

The mountains shake before You
The demons run in fear
At the mention of the name
King Of Majesty
There is no power in hell
or any who can stand
before the power and the
Presence of the Great I Am

Before that moment, this was a great song that I loved to sing. Since that moment, this is “Dad’s Song” – and it reminds me that God is bigger than anything in this life or the next. It reminds me that God is the Great I Am – the All Sufficient One, the One who is, who was, and who always will be.

“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. The Lord, the God of your Fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.’” – Exodus 3:14, 15 NIV

It wouldn’t surprise me if the song wasn’t even on the radio’s playlist; that God miraculously put it on my radio in my car at that moment just for my sister and me.
We opened the sunroof and lifted our hands to heaven and felt the power, love and strength of the majesty of God flow into us. We were immediately rejuvenated. God is so very real to us, and he magnificently met us in exactly the way we needed him to meet us. His strength poured into us.

We loaded the car with funeral flowers and vases and delivered them to hospice. In the thick darkness of disease, and death we were reminded that Jesus is life! That dry bones won’t stay dry forever. That heaven is real. That death is the lie.

And God gave me a song to remind me that this awesome, majestic, holy, mighty, all-powerful God is my God!

How has God swooped in lately? What are you doing to help you remember the mighty hand of God in your life?

*Phillips, Craig and Dean; “Great I Am” from the album “Breathe In”