Searching for God in All Things in Our Everyday Life

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Do you notice God in the little things throughout your day or do you tend to look for Him only in those big “God Moments” where it is unmistakably Him? Perhaps you feel alone and wonder if God is with you as you go through difficult times. Searching for God in all things throughout the day requires you to look away from those big “sky parting” moments and see the mundane, everyday things.

Let’s look at the question “How do we find God in our lives” and learn how we can see God in the everyday and go about searching for God in all things in life, the good and maybe not so good!

Updated and republished from 3/27/2020

Searching for God in All Things Big and Small

Normal Events as Acts of Worship

I want to start by quoting from an article from one of the most respected scholars in Messianic Judaism, Dr. Mark Kinzer, because I believe Mark (as he always prefers to be called) always sums things up so beautifully and poignantly and so I rely on people like him when I do not have those eloquent words.

Rabbi Dr. Mark Kinzer, in his article “Pots, Pans, & Seraphim: Messianic Jewish Prayer in its Heavenly Context” from Hasivenu Forum dated 2017, states:

In a
similar vein Max Kadushin described the experience of God in rabbinic Judaism as “normal
mysticism”: “Normal mysticism enables a person to make normal, commonplace, recurrent
situations and events occasions for worship. The food he eats, the water he drinks, the dawn and
twilight are joined to berakhot acknowledging God’s love. These daily commonplace situations
are not only interpreted in the act of worship as manifestations of God’s love, but they arouse in
the individual, in the same act of worship, a poignant sense of the nearness of God.”

Dr. Mark Kinzer – https://www.markkinzer.com/articles

Living Life as an Act of Worship

I admit I can go about my day with blinders on! In fact, these days as I just try my hardest to get through school and daily tasks those blinders can seem much larger than before.

I have a friend who is wonderful about extracting the most amazing nuggets of wisdom from the smallest of moments in her day! I would watch her videos and see her share these moments of wisdom God would share with her, even about something as simple as a dirty dish!

It made me feel like somehow I wasn’t as “spiritual” as she was because I wasn’t getting these same nuggets! I felt like maybe God was sharing more with her and maybe I was lacking something! Oh that comparison trap!

Isn’t it funny how sometimes the first place we go to is the negative? We feel that we are somehow lacking and that GOD may not be giving us a blessing, instead of looking at how WE are blocking that blessing or how maybe God is using us in a different way with different glimpses of wisdom?

Oh but I was blocking! I was blocking by allowing distractions and those blinders to hinder God’s voice!

I was looking for God only in those big moments; during prayer, during Bible reading, those BIG answers to prayer! But I was missing Him in the mundane!

But I am not alone in expecting God to move in BIG ways while missing the whispers!

Searching for God in All Things – The Whisper

Elijah was a great prophet of God and was accustomed to hearing God’s voice! After all, that is what a prophet does!

But let’s look at Elijah’s encounter with God in ways he wasn’t looking for!

1 Kings 19:11-13

Then He said, “Come out and stand on the mount before Adonai.” Behold, Adonai was passing by—a great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and shattering cliffs before Adonai. But Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. 
After the earthquake a fire, but Adonai was not in the fire. After the fire there was a soft whisper of a voice. As soon as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
Then all of a sudden, a voice addressed him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

TLV

So we see here that Elijah went up on the mountain to wait for the Lord.

First, a strong wind, strong enough to break the rocks in pieces, came through and the verse seems to allude to the fact that Elijah was expecting to see God in the wind, but He was not.

Then we see an earthquake occur. Once again, the verses indicate that God was not in the earthquake.

Then a fire! Surely the Lord MUST be in the fire! After all, He spoke to Moses in the burning bush!

But the Lord was not in the fire.

Then it tells us, after the fire, was a still, small voice.

Elijah heard this still, small voice and went to the entrance of the cave and there God spoke with him.

Find God in the Way He Speaks to YOU

While Elijah was expecting God to come in like a lion, he wasn’t completely deaf to the small whisper of the lamb! He heard him! He wasn’t expecting Him that way but still, he heard Him.

Do we hear Him in the way He is speaking to us? Do we find God in those still, small moments?

Or are we waiting for Him in the whirlwinds, earthquakes, and fires?

Oh, don’t get me wrong my friend! He WILL speak to you that way! There are times God comes through in my life in a BIG way!

But He is also speaking to us in those small moments, in those tiny nuggets over a kitchen sink or while changing a dirty diaper or while washing our car. Searching for GOd in all things means ALL things.

God wasn’t imparting some special wisdom to my friend there! I had the same ability to hear Him as she did!

The difference was in the listening, not the speaking!

Searching for Him in All Things – Living Listening

Searching Him out in all things in life is not as difficult as we may think when we live our lives listening for Him.

Psalm 5:4 (verse 3 in some translations) says

Adonai, in the morning You hear my voice. In the morning I order my prayer before You and watch expectantly.

TLV

David said in the morning he prays and then he watches. The Complete Jewish Bible says:

Adonai, in the morning you will hear my voice; in the morning I lay my needs before you and wait expectantly.

CJB

He lays his needs before the Lord and then watches or waits expectantly.

The Hebrew word for ‘watch’ or ‘wait’ here is ‘tsaphah’ and it means

To keep watch, spy, watch closely

David prayed, praised, sacrificed, and then watched. He EXPECTED to hear from God. 

Are we watching? Are we looking for those ‘God Moments’ through our days?

We can miss that still, small voice in the busyness of life. I know that is what happened with me! 

Busy got in the way of the Spirit speaking to me!

While my friend was cooking dinner and WATCHING for ways God may speak to her in the mundane task of cooking, I was just trying to trudge through this task and get it over with.

She was seeing the blessing in the moment while I was just trying to get to the NEXT moment!

Wow, what a lesson this godly friend has taught me in her example of living listening! Are we listening for Him in our daily living?

What a lesson this godly friend has taught me in her example of living listening! Are we listening for Him in our daily living? #hearingGod #proverbs31 Share on X

How Do We Find God in Answers to Prayers We May Not Expect

Do we miss God’s answers to prayers because we have an expectation of how He SHOULD respond to us?

Are we looking for those grand gestures, like you might find the triplets doing on the show ‘This is Us’, or are you looking for ways He might respond that could be gentle nudges, soft whispers or even “be still and wait“?

In John 10:27, Jesus says:

My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me.

TLV

He says that those who belong to Him, His sheep, HEAR His voice.

In one of my favorite verses on hearing from God, Jeremiah 33:3 says:

‘Call out to me, and I will answer you — I will tell you great things, hidden things of which you are unaware.’

CJB

If we take the time in our day to call to Him, to ask Him to show up, to ask Him to speak with us in the every day, if we make a point of searching for the Lord in the everyday things, He WILL speak to us! And what I love about this verse is that it says He will tell us GREAT and HIDDEN things that we have not known!

I think of these as those ‘nuggets’ or lessons He gives us in all we do.

The Bible tells us to pray without ceasing! Prayer is a conversation that goes two ways! We should always be listening for God to speak to us in all the things in life.

And in times like this, I feel the world needs to do far more listening because I sense God speaking to us more than ever!

Are we living listening or are we living distracted?

Searching for the Lord in All Things – Obedience

We see that we need to not only look for God in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire but also in the whisper. But once we become attuned to hearing His voice, how do we keep on hearing it?

Luke 11:28 says

But he said, “Far more blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

CJB

If you think about it in terms of people, if you keep talking to someone who doesn’t listen, eventually you may not talk to them as much. You might see it as futile and may feel you will just not speak until they bother listening.

One of the ways we become more tuned in to hearing the voice of God is by listening and obeying.

My former Rabbi and friend once said that we have two jobs in the community of believers; listen and obey! Seems pretty simple, right?

Are we living listening or are we living distracted? Share on X

But many times, we seek God and even hear Him and then go off in another direction.

Listen and obey!

Jesus stresses this in the above-mentioned verse! Blessed are those who HEAR and OBEY!

The Shema

As a Jewish believer, I love to use the Shema as an example!

The Shema is probably the single most important prayer in all of Judaism. It is recited daily and it affirms God’s role as King and Lord!

You can find the first line of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”

TLV

The most important prayer in Judaism begins with the word “HEAR.

The Shema then goes on in Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, are to be on your heart. 
You are to teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. 
Bind them as a sign on your hand, they are to be as frontlets between your eyes, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

TLV

Obey!

After HEAR it goes on to talk about OBEYING the Word of God!

Hear and Obey!

Will we always get it right? No! But the more we tune in to hear those still whispers and step out in obedience and lean into Him, the more we will hear! 

Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect! If we practice listening for the whispers and not only look for the big sonic booms or a voice like James Earl Jones speaking from the heavens, we will realize He speaks to us more often than we realize!

Bible Verses About Searching for God

Let’s have a look at some Bible verses on searching God out in all things:

James 1:22

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

TLV

Proverbs 16:20

One prudent in a matter will find good
Blessed is the one who trusts in Adonai.

TLV

Matthew 7:24

So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock.

CJB

Revelation 3:20

Here, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he will eat with me.

CJB

Malachi 2:2

If you won’t listen, if you won’t pay attention to honoring my name,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “then I will send the curse on you; I will turn your blessings into curses. Yes, I will curse them, because you pay no attention.

CJB

Matthew 4:4

But He replied, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

TLV

Hear and obey! Set your heart toward searching for God in all things, searching for Him in the everyday things! Listen for the still, small voice and practice stepping out in faith and trusting Him! If you make a mistake it’s ok! He will never fail you; you’ll just get to take the test over again!

If you make a mistake it's ok! He will never fail you; you'll just get to take the test over again! Share on X

What ways have you found to find God in all things? Share with us in the comments!

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CJB – Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.

Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society.  Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.

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