An unorthodox devotional

While I know that God primarily speaks to us through his Word, this has been a season where I have also sensed the Lord speaking through nature. I cannot recall a time in my life when I have been more aware or more appreciative of the natural beauty of God's creation than I have the past eight months. It's like everywhere I look God is there. God in the starry night skies. God in the trees behind the house where we are staying. God in the winds that blow.

For most of the past year I deliberately chose to immerse myself in the four NT Gospels. Some days I would read only one verse and soak in a single phrase. Other days I would read several chapters.

However, a few days ago, I decided to give the Gospels a rest, and simply ask Jesus what was on His heart. What words did He have for me today? My devotional times are usually spent outside with the Lord.

This particular day the wind was blowing quite steadily. In what is--for me at least--an unusual break in tradition, I asked the Spirit to "blow" the pages of my open Bible until they rested on the very words he wanted me to pay attention to. The "deal," I told the Lord, was that I would read whatever page remained open for twenty consecutive seconds. For more than 10-minutes the pages of my open Bible whipped back and forth from Genesis to Revelation--it was quite windy that day! Seldom more than five seconds passed before the wind would blow, and again the pages would flip over and over. I was about to give up on the idea thinking it a bit silly to expect God to respond in such an unorthodox way, when one more gust turned the pages and then...stillness.

I counted slowly 17, 18, 19...20 and just to be sure, 21...22...23 and still the same page remained open on my lap. "OK, God, let's see what You have to say." I looked down...

The page was opened to Acts 18:22 in the top left-hand corner and ended at Acts 20:13 in the bottom right-hand corner.

These are the phrases that jumped off the page and spoke to me as clearly as if Jesus Himself were sitting there speaking to me in an audible voice.

...he [Paul] went up and greeted the church

...he went down to Antioch

...traveling through one place after another in the Galatian territory...strengthening ALL THE DISCIPLES...

Then he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, engaging in discussion and trying to persuade them about the things related to the kingdom of God...

...he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years so that all the inhabitants of the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord...

After the uproar was over [described in chapter 19] Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying good-bye, departed to go to Macedonia...

And when he had passed through those areas and exhorted them at length...

Words cannot express how perfect these (and a few other) phrases answer the very questions I have been asking the Lord to reveal to us as we prepare to return to Ecuador and the work He has called us to. In the days following this unusual encounter, I have continued to read, study, and meditate upon the words found in Acts 18-20. What a gold mine!

Have you ever had an "unorthodox experience" like this where God surprised you and spoke in an unusual way? Why is it that we always try to box God in to our preconceived notions of the way we think He should act and speak?