Irresistible Invitation by Maxie Dunham - Day 2
Irresistible Invitation: Responding to the Extravagant Heart of God
Day 2: Gods Creation is Good
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Genesis
I know we may not always believe it, but hold on to the thought for a moment. God’s creation is good.
In Day 1, Maxie Dunham, author of Irresistible Invitation, talked about incandescent amazement. It is that same amazement that we feel as God continues to call creation out of chaos – and rejoices. In Day 2, we’re invited to keep reading the story of the beginning. “And God said, ‘Let there be light’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness” (Gen 1:3).
This God is no “engineer, scientist or technician who has created a model that is flowing off some production line. No, the God of creation is an artist, painter and sculptor – and the creation is his masterpiece.”
Maxie draws our attention to and asks us to remember that after each piece of creation was completed there is the phrase, “And it was good.” Hang on to that phrase. Because in the times we live in, the stories we witness and the many we read, because of the chaos in our society today, we are tempted to see the world as evil. Maxie wrote, “When the darkness of our circumstances makes life seem dark… we find it difficult to believe that God is
near and [we] fear that God has forgotten us.”
How many times in the history of the world have God’s creatures thought these very same things? We are not the first, nor will we be the last to feel as though the world has gone from bad to worse.
Maxie reminds us: “What we need to know is that God owns the darkness as well as the light, and that God is present in the night as well as in the day.” There is no part of creation, no part of our human existence that is without God’s presence.
“Not only does God bring deliverance from darkness; sometimes God reveals himself most vividly in the darkness. We may not understand it or be able to explain it, but we can know full well that God is in the midst of everything.”
This truth does not make us exempt from suffering in life. Tragic things happen. Maxie provides this list: “Brothers betray brothers. Husbands desert wives. Good people lose their jobs. Teenage girls get pregnant. Teenage boys use drugs. The young die to early. The old live against their will through feeding tubes and breathing machines. Hurricanes devastate cities. Tornadoes destroy trailer parks and rivers flood towns. An earthquake in the middle of the ocean causes a tsunami a thousand miles away.” We can add to the list from our own life stories. We can add our concern for the health of our country onto the list.
And while it might not always be apparent that God is in the midst of it all, while it might not always be apparent that every part of God’s creation is good, we “can be confident that God is always working out his magnificent plan of redemption.” Even when God’s people don’t act according to God’s will or God’s plan, God is still hard at work bringing God’s ultimate will to fulfillment.
Maxie provided a story to close the day’s devotion:
Some time ago, the Associated Press carried the story of Manuel Garcia. Garcia was a poor man who suffered from cancer, and he needed to be treated with chemotherapy. He had always been proud of his full head of hair, but now he had to surrender to its loss.
When the time came for Garcia to leave the hospital and return home, he felt embarrassed by his baldness. As he entered his house, his five-year-old son came running to him. The little boy threw his arms around his father and shouted "Daddy, I love you!" Garcia was surprised when he realized that his son was completely bald; he had shaved off his hair so he could look like his father.
Then, in a few minutes, the doorbell rang. Garcia opened the door to find some fifty neighbors and friends standing on his front lawn. They had all shaved their heads in a sign of solidarity and support. What a picture of God! God may not save us from our troubles, but he will save us in them. God's creation may sometimes seem dark and evil, but in full picture, the long view, it will prove to be good.
Maxie’s Questions:
- Have you been aware of God's presence in times of darkness and suffering?
- Have there been times of hardship in your life that, looking back, you are able to recognize as forming your character for the better? Are you aware of a purpose in those times of struggle?
- Have you been given or received a show of love like the one described in the story of Manuel Garcia?
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