An Extraordinary God in Ordinary Circumstances

Many people discredit the Bible because the languages, genres, and ideas of the Bible mimic those of nations, people groups, and religions around the time the Bible was written. These critics say that Biblical authors simply borrowed their material from surrounding nations in order to create their own religious view(s) of the world. In order to evaluate and criticize this argument, something needs to be said: all religions, philosophies, law codes, cultures, people groups, etc., have some sort of truth in their beliefs. Now, I am not advocating pluralism or saying that everything in all religions is true, but all false religions developed from some truths that the religion later warped. One example can be found in the way that religions see God or gods only speaking through extraordinary ways. Because of this, critics associate the “ordinary” language, references, stories, genres, literary devices, etc. by saying that there is not an extraordinary God behind these “ordinary” writings. Basically, the problem that these critics have with the Bible is what I’d like to call, “An Extraordinary God in Ordinary Circumstances.”

Spoiler Alert: I will not be dealing with the Documentary Hypothesis or any other textual criticisms, but I will be dealing with various questions proposed by both critics and believers.

Why couldn’t an extraordinary God speak through ordinary circumstances?

If God of the Bible created everything, then why wouldn’t the ordinary be an extraordinary way for Him to speak? Think about this: if God wanted His truths to be communicated with the ordinary man, it would only make sense for God to use the medium of the writings of the day as a way to communicate with mankind. Think about it this way, if God only spoke through burning bushes to certain individuals, how extraordinary is that in light of the surrounding religions during the time of the Bible’s penning? Surely we can see a contrast between the God of the Bible and the gods of the pagan world as the God of the Bible spoke to man through a calm voice; whereas, the gods of the pagan world were to only speak through incantation, environmental disaster, and the most supernatural ways possible. In an astronomical percentage of accounts, the God of the Bible used an ordinary circumstance to speak to individuals in an extraordinary way.

Why do we search for extraordinary communication when God uses the ordinary?

Have you ever watched a local Gospel television station? Many of these stations place a huge amount of validity on prophecy fulfillment. I think that our preoccupation with prophecy fulfillment reveals our desire to be in the middle of God’s work- where he speaks to us. Truly, our desire is to be found in the extraordinary activity of God so that we can hear from Him, but what does that do with ordinary life? Although we have a desire to be in God’s extraordinary works, mankind has created a theology of God only being able to speak in ways which are outside mankind’s normal circumstances; and that's extraordinarily sad.

How can we hear from God in the ordinary?

The question many Christians ask themselves is something along the lines of, “In ordinary things like eating, playing sports, working, talking with others, etc., does God speak to me?” God’s answer is a resounding, “Yes!” As the Holy Spirit is in the life of the individual believer, God is able to speak to an individual in the ordinary. As we eat, play, work, talk, etc., God is always desiring to share things with His children. After all, God provided His Word, fellow believers, prayer, and worship as ways to communicate with Him—doesn’t that say that God wants to communicate with us?

God speaks to us in the ordinary. Don’t you think that God speaking to us in the ordinary is actually quite extraordinary? Are we listening? Are you listening? What has He revealed to you lately?