Our whimsical God

Among the great adjectives we have for our God, we need to add "whimsical." If you haven't encountered that word lately, ask your AI to tell you about it. God fits the definition -- imaginative and unpredictable. He's so creative he catches people by surprise. In fact, the devil never comes up with anything new, but God always has been and always will be a creator.

Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells his people that in the future he will do it again. He promises to his people: Something you never saw coming … is coming — a new thing springing up before your eyes.

Isaiah is writing to people already in tough straits, warning that harder times are coming. When chapter 43 is penned, the Babylonians are still 100 years from even becoming a world power. Isaiah sees well into the future that one day they will be used as God’s rod of judgement on Judah. Yet, when things seem most hopeless, God will in turn judge the Babylonians and restore his people in breathtaking fashion. The Babylonian nation, built on the water and proud of its naval superiority, will be brought low and God’s people will be restored (v. 14). This new thing will be spectacular, but so hard to see coming while languishing in stagnant and demoralized circumstances in captivity. How could they even hope for such a thing?

God gives the people a double-dip of encouragement of his character. First, he emphasizes how capable he is by highlighting the past — reminding them what he did in rescuing their forefathers from Egypt (vv. 16-17), the founding event of their nation. The deliverance through the water and the drowning of their enemies runs deep in their psyche. The greatness of their God demonstrated for all to see and all generations to remember.

Then he turns on a dime, strangely demanding they “forget” those things he has just reminded them of. God insists they look the other direction, into the future, where their capable God will show himself creative in even greater ways. It’s as if God says, “Don’t forget what you’ve seen, but you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Isaiah prophesies that what is coming is as unexpected as roads in a desert (wilderness) and streams in wastelands. No small feat and not something anyone who understands the regular order of things would anticipate. Who can pull that off? Only God.

Our God has a track record of the most impressive and unexpected feats. Who would have imagined a peasant child as the living, breathing Son of God? Who else could design a story where the cross, an instrument of untold torture and humiliation, becomes the gateway to humankind’s salvation? Saul of Tarsus would be our last draft pick for the standard-bearer of God’s kingdom to the Gentiles. Surely Jesus was right when he said, “With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

We are witnesses to such work, too. God’s whimsical ways did not end at the ministry of Paul, the death of John Wesley or the rampant rise of humanism in our modern age. It is tempting to despair when we look out upon our current wasteland and wonder if our best days are behind us. Do we think our whimsical God has run out of power or good ideas? Often, God waits until things seem hopeless so that he alone can receive glory when he comes to the rescue.

It’s time to remember that our God does not just see the things that are, he sees the things that will be. If we’re not careful, we can give in to the well-ingrained habit of seeing what is and worrying that tomorrow will merely trend worse. “How is God going to reach the people in this town?Where will we ever find the resources for a dream this big?” We just aren’t that great at envisioning streams in wastelands. He is!

Since we claim to live lives of faith, we must learn to anticipate what is yet to be tomorrow that we don’t see today. According to Hebrews, if we can’t do at least that, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Our God never tires of calling his people to himself; to remind each of his precious creations that they were formed to know and praise him. We may grow weary and suffer from lack of imagination or confidence, but God is just getting started. He has plans all around the world and in your local context. God is not running out of creative, mind-boggling ways to do the mighty and the unexpected — causing new things to spring up for his glory.

Once again, we need to hear the Spirit’s voice calling: “Do you see that I am doing a new thing?” While God can handle today’s honest answer of, “I really don’t,” would we dare to let him stir our imaginations enough to at least add the word “yet” to our response? “God, I don’t see it … yet.”

Let something confident rise up inside, born of certainty in a God who is not only capable but creative. That would be truly whimsical.

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