The Unexpected

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8


I am reminded that God's ways are not always our ways and that his will is not always our will. Life would be pretty boring if we knew everything before it happened. Sometimes God uses the unexpected to get our attention. If you don't believe me, take a good look at Jonah. Jonah spent three days in the belly of a whale because he refused to preach God's message to the people of Nineveh.

If you want a historical example, take a good look at Henry VIII. King Henry went around trying to find a woman to give him a son. Finally after divorcing his first wife and butchering his second, wife number three gave him the son he always wanted... Edward VI. Who the heck remembers Edward? The only thing I remember about Edward is that he died young and that he named his cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. I doubt he knew that she would be executed nine days later!

Henry VIII never had another legitimate male heir to the throne but he was the father to two of England's most famous monarchs. His eldest daughter by his first wife Catherine of Aragon became "Bloody Mary" and it was she who took a final stand for Catholicism in England. Henry's other daughter Elizabeth became England's most praised monarch. It was Elizabeth I who defeated the Armada and it was Elizabeth I who vested an interest in the New World. But... Henry probably did not see this when he had Anne Boleyn's head chopped off. Ironically, Elizabeth I became a much more famous monarch in English history than Henry himself. It was thanks to Elizabeth that James I became the next ruler in England and it was thanks to James I that the bible was translated. If it was not for James I persecution of Christians, America would not have the legacy of Christianity it has today. Henry did not see any of this!

Think of Samuel the prophet of God who anointed David king of Israel, did he not believe that the King would be one of David's more "qualified" older brothers? But it was God's will and God used David to take down the Philistine Goliath.

Sometimes God uses the unexpected to get people's attention. The only question is... What does he have to do to get your attention?