A Tribute to the God of all Creation

No grandiose pictures. No eloquent elaborations. This is just a simple tribute to the God of all creation. To Him be the glory.

 

I am now in Kenya. I am staying with a Kenyan pastor,
William, and his wife, Pamela. They are some of the most gracious and
welcoming people I have ever known. They do everything within their
power to make sure our stay is comfortable. Upon arrival, William
proudly shared with me that his village’s water is clean and abundant. “The best in all of Kenya!” The next day, however, something happened to the water supply. We lost water in our house and in the surrounding village area. William and Pamela became very distressed, feeling insufficient as our hosts. The twenty of us staying here decided to pray over the different water faucets in the house. Nothing happened. As I was walking back to my room, Pamela confided in me that she felt we needed a miracle to get the water back. I felt a very strong desire to go back and pray again for the water. A few of the other men felt the same conviction, and we prayed over one of the water spigots. As a unified band of brothers, we sat in the heat of the sun and prayed all afternoon. Minutes turned into hours. Still nothing happened. 

While praying over the water spigot, I imagined God touching it and cool water flowing over my hands. I imagined jumping in the air and praising God for answering my prayer and for putting His glory on full display. But shouldn’t I already be in a state of continuous praise for his never-ending faithfulness and daily provision? Should not praise be continually on my lips? Should I not rejoice in the Lord in all things? We must remember that we are the stewards of everything, but the owners
of nothing. Every drop of water, every meal, and every breath of air is
a miracle of God’s daily provision. I realized how blinded I had become
to the fact that God ordains every step of my life. We repented of our sins, rebuked Satan’s attacks on our thoughts when it began to feel silly to keep our hands on a single water spigot for hours in the afternoon heat, spoke life into one another, and cried out together in praise, song, and sincere prayer. Nothing happened. The girls came and got us because our team needed to go to the market, so we left.

 

But our prayers are not unheard. The God of all creation listens to us and answers in accordance with His will. I praise Him for answering our needs and not our wants. I praise Him for His perfect timing that supercedes our own. I praise Him for working in higher ways than I could ever imagine. And I praise Him for gifting us with a glimpse of His glory that day. While at the market, we received a call from Pamela. She told us that the water returned, but it had only come to a single water faucet–the very one over which we had sat all afternoon! In fact, out of the entire house and surrounding village, water flowed for over an hour only to that very spot, and then it began to spread to the rest of the house and surrounding village! Pamela told us that, when the water returned to ‘our’ water faucet, she was overcome by the fear of God, because she had seen us praying there all day.

 

I testify that God did more than show us favor in the form of water that day. He used that afternoon to strengthen us as brothers. He used that exercise of faith to fill us with more desire for intimacy, both with Him and with each other. He put His glory on display not only for us, but for our hosts, for the surrounding villagers, and for you. He taught us patience and reminded us of biblical truths. He began to open our eyes to the reality that He is our sole provider, and that we should be on our hands and knees every day. I even remember praying that He would continue to open my eyes by removing the blinders of complacency, pride, and self-sufficiency–to show me daily that I need to rely on Him for everything.

 

Sure enough, the water went out again the next day. Oh, that crazy God of all creation.