When God Prepares

I am currently studying Systematic Theology, working on my masters of divinity. The chapel services at the grad school are really excellent. These guys are so sincere and so deep. I always get more out of my one-week short courses in chapel here than I usually do out of the rest of the year of church services. (When you're the one who is always preaching, you can never really participate in worship, because you're too worried about what you're about to have to get up and say)

Today the speaker was a guy named Augustine who is from Ghana, I believe. He is in charge of a Christian school over there. He had a really good talk about the importance of not seeking credit for the good that we do. What hit me the most was how he prayed.

He began by addressing God in very missional terms. I can't quote him exactly, but it was something like this: 'O Mighty God, who is already present in every village before we seek to teach them the Gospel; who is already on top of every mountain before we can even climb it to survey the people below and think about how to evangelize them; O God who always goes before us, preparing the way for your Word before we can even arrive; O God who uses us to spread your Kingdom, though we are weak and inadequate for the task...'

I liked his very active understanding of God. God is not the god of deism who wound up the clockwork of the universe and then sat down for a nap; neglecting us like a child who's lost interest in a new toy. God is the God who hears us and even goes before us, preparing the way for the Gospel to be spread, giving us the very words to speak and the very message to teach.

Many will approach evangelism with the thought, "I'll bring God to the inner city" "I'll bring God to this village". We'll think this, only to find out that God has been preparing the minds and hearts of people to hear his Word long before we've thought of teaching it to them. God is already working there. People are already hoping for something better than what they have. The fields are ripe; we must pray that God will raise up workers who are unafraid to march out and carry his good news to the ears who are aching for hope.