God Connects the Dots - November 9

They forgot what he had done,
and the wonders he had shown them.
He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers,
in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split open the sea and let them pass through;
he made the waters stand up like walls.
He led them with a cloud by day,
and all the night through with a glow of fire.
He split the hard rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink as from the great deep.
He brought streams out of the cliff,
and the waters gushed out like rivers.  –Psalm 78: 11-16

I was reminiscing with a friend yesterday about many of the different places where we had lived over the years, stops along the way where God had called each of us to be for a time and how God had provided for us in those places. We noticed how we had been, as it turns out, at some of the same places along the way, but at different points in time, and how we have known some of the same people along the way, though many years (and even decades) apart. When we remember to look back at our lives (so far) from the vantage point of time and the perspective of people who believe in God’s shepherding, guiding presence in our lives, it can be easier to see how God has worked (as is working) in us and through us—if only we are willing to keep walking, tentative step by tentative step, down the path God has appointed for us. We may not know where God is leading us at that time, but we can always find assurance that God is right there with us at every step along the way.

But as we hear the psalmist writing in Psalm 78 today, through the generations God’s faithful people often have lost sight of how God has faithfully led them, provided for them, and protected them over the years: “They did not keep the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; They forgot what he had done, and the wonders he had shown them” (v. 10-11). It’s a familiar pattern: we stray off course or encounter unexpected obstacles, we forget how God has guided and provided for us, and then we grow anxious and think we have to hustle and scheme and make everything happen for ourselves.

God, as our loving heavenly Father, knows how we humans work, though. And so, again and again, he gently calls out to us and reminds us that he is there—and has been there at every stop along the way. Sometimes God gives us little nudges and stirrings of the Spirit, be they signs of his beauty and faithfulness in nature (like seeing a rainbow or bird flying overhead at just the right time) or those God-incidences in which it seems like only God could scatter and then connect those dots in just the right way at just the right time.

Even though we are flawed and human, God keeps calling us to return—as we pray in Eucharistic Prayer C, “again and again, you called us to return.” As we hear the psalmist reflect, though we keep straying and keep forgetting that God is God and we are not, God remains ever-loving and ever-kind. He knows that we are ever in need of his tenderness and mercy, and he will provide all that we need, beyond what we in our human finitude can even ask or imagine.

For they had no faith in God,
nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
So he commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
He rained down manna upon them to eat
and gave them grain from heaven.
So mortals ate the bread of angels;
he provided for them food enough.  (Psalm 78: 22-25)

Becky+

Questions for Self-Reflection

“When I pray, coincidences happen.

When I don't, they don't.”

—Archbishop William Temple

Ponder these words in light of today's Psalm and reflection. How does being connected through God in prayer allow us to be attuned to the ways God is guiding us and providing for us, and to those moments that seem like God-made coincidences.

Daily Challenge

Make a timeline or journal about the long and winding road of your life so far. At what points along the way, looking back now, do you see God's guiding hand and provision more clearly now?