“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.”1
—C.S. Lewis
Let’s think about that: some days or even weeks, I feel I have successfully evaded the presence of God—not by design or intention; instead, it seems I walked different streets or sang different songs, or simply didn’t see or hear or feel his presence. You have felt that too; I know it. God incognito. What now?
I understand: it sounds like I blame you (me) for missing the presence of God. Instead, let’s hear the invitation in some words below—from scripture and from wise writers and friends. They tell me that God desires relationship with us when we seek him, not just answers to all our questions. They invite us to align our expectations—to accept that, for now, we see only partially. To become detectives of divinity. To move at the pace of being known. And to listen to our own stories for evidence of God’s presence.
- John wrote these words from Jesus about our intentions:
“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)
Do I look for answers, doctrine, truth, but not for relationship with the Messiah?
- Paul wrote these words:
“For now, we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope and love abide: these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)
Do I expect to see what most have never seen and ignore Jesus’ call to trust, to expect, and to act in love?
- As a young girl, Barbara Brown Taylor recognized the adventure of seeking God:
“I could no longer see myself or the least detail in my life in the same way again. When the service was over that day I walked out of it into a God-enchanted world, where I could not wait to find further clues to heaven on earth. Every leaf, every ant, every shiny rock called out to me—begging to be watched, to be listened to, to be handled and examined. I became a detective of divinity, collecting evidence of God’s genius and admiring the tracks left for me to follow…”2
Do you look for the extraordinary when God walks among us in the ordinary?
- Julie and Matt Canlis created a video called Godspeed: The Pace of Being Known.3 They want us to slow down, to ask, am I so distracted, busy, and living such a fast pace that I might walk past God or the very thing God desires for me to see and do? This 30-minute video is an outstanding use of your time. Spend it with Matt Canlis, Eugene Peterson, N. T. Wright, and the people of a little parish in Scotland. I can only tell you this is worth your time.
- Paula D’Arcy’s words haunt me:
“ God comes to us disguised as our life.”4
What is your practice of listening, looking, or waiting on God in the unfolding story of your life?
What seems “loud,” persistent, especially curious, insistent, or has caused you simply to say, “huh?” In other words, if she is correct that God comes to us “disguised as our life,” what is your life saying to you from this incognito God?
Has a spiritual friend, family member, or mentor asked you to consider what God might be saying to you right now through events, disappointments, sorrow, success, or joyful momentum? I am convinced that God speaks to us through all of our lives—nothing is outside of the boundaries of how God might want to get our attention. It may be a vocal question; it may come in what you read.
This week, a neighbor’s lawn tractor exploded into a fireball in the field in back of our yards. It took a while, but it was safely extinguished. Truth be told, we’ve had some tension with them over the past year. This didn’t help. But I couldn’t quite let it go. I felt this was a moment for us to “go high.” I offered them the use of our Cub Cadet—no response…yet. But I felt a tap on my shoulder and knew that it was a moment to show a graciousness to them.
Practice:
How might you follow Barbara Brown Taylor’s lead and become a detective of divinity in the coming week? How might you slow down to the pace of Godspeed? How might you listen or see into the events of today and the week that was? God’s angels (messengers) come to my life without wings or a heavenly voice, but most often in the most surprisingly ordinary ways.
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Keith Anderson, D.Min., is a Faculty Associate for Spirituality and Vocation at VantagePoint3 and President Emeritus of Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. He is the author of several books, including his most recent: On Holy Ground: Your Story of Identity, Belonging and Sacred Purpose (Wipf & Stock, 2024). His other works include Reading Your Life’s Story (IVP, 2016), A Spirituality of Listening (IVP, 2016), and Spiritual Mentoring (IVP, 1999). In his writing, teaching, and mentoring, Keith seeks to set a table for people looking to enter the “amazing inner sanctuary of the soul” in the most ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.
1 CS Lewis, Letters to Malcom
2Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life, p. 15.
3Canlis, YouTube: Godspeed – The Pace of Being Known — Godspeed.
4Paula D’Arcy, quoted by Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, p. 151.