While You Were Out

T

he stack of papers on my desk indicated that a bevy of activity had taken place during the brief hour I took for lunch.  Honestly, the desktop covered with pink slips of paper and the computer’s monitor covered with notes, reminded me of the movie entitled, “Pretty in Pink.” 

As I gingerly approached my desk, I grew more and more enthralled with the amount of paper placed their by my co-workers.  Although each note carried a separate message, they all had one thing in common.  The top of every note was imprinted with the same message:  While You Were Out!  From the looks of my desk and the number of messages to which I needed to respond, it would have been better not to have gone to lunch at all.  However, instead of bemoaning the number of calls I had to make, I started at the top of the pile and began to work my way through the messages.

Since I was working in the counseling center of a local community college the calls were mostly academic in nature.  Most of them were from students requesting an appointment to discuss their transcripts for transfer to a particular university.  A few notes were from students requesting a conference to discuss prospective career choices and others were requesting general information about our programs.  The time required to complete these follow-ups was more than the time I had spent eating lunch.  Although I had been gone for only an hour one thing was abundantly clear.  The work had not ceased during my absence; in fact, it had continued full force and there was ample evidence pointing to that fact.

All of us in the work-a-day world have had similar experiences.  We find our desks covered with important items requiring our attention and we find ourselves snowed under with work.  This is especially true when we return from a nice, relaxing vacation.  We enter the office, or open our mailbox at home, only to find that the work didn’t stop in our absence and the bills just kept on coming despite our escape from the daily grind.  The stacks of papers and mounds of items requiring our attention testify to the fact that the work of life goes on all around us whether we are in or out!

It is not too far a jump to apply this situation to our walk with God.  No matter where we are, no matter what we face, and no matter the time of day, our Heavenly Father is constantly working, continuing to draw men and women to him for salvation; constantly caring for the needs of his children.  Jesus made this point abundantly clear in John 5:17, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."  There is both great truth and great comfort in Jesus’ words.  Let’s consider for a brief moment the implications of his statement.

Jesus says that God is always working.  The proof of this is as close as your wrist.  If you place the fingers of one hand on the opposite wrist you will feel your pulse.  This is evidence that your heart is beating yet you can do nothing to keep it going.  Every beat comes from God and he alone keeps it pumping.  While you are out, away from your family, he keeps them safe until you return to them at the end of the day.  While you are out in the hectic world, he keeps vigil over the number of hairs on your head, the number of breaths that you take, and he even keeps record of the tears you cry.

When you are asleep, out of the mainstream of life and away from consciousness, even there God works keeping your body functioning properly and giving you the rest you need.  Before the day starts, God is already working, making sure all your needs are met in accordance with the promise he has made to you.  Yes, while you are out, God is working.  He is working every moment of the day and in every hour of the night, turning trials into triumphs and difficulties into dramatic victories.  This is the kind of God we serve, one who does not stop working when we check out and one who knows all about us and loves us anyway.  What has God done while you were out today?