June 22: Omnidirectional, not Linear

2 Kings 3:1-4:17

Acts 14:8-28

Psalm 140:1-13

Proverbs 17:22

Omnidirectional: being in or involving all directions.  

I can almost hear God asking "did you see what I did there?"  The three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom and their armies ran out of water.  They turned to God (ok, maybe they should have BEFORE they set out for battle with Moab), and God gave them the water they needed, that they could continue on to the battle…and the victory!…against Moab.  

That they could drink to restore their strength for battle would have been God sighting enough…but God wasn't done yet.  He used that very same water to fool the Moabites into thinking the three armies had fought each other.  So when they came to plunder the Israelites' camp, they were unprepared for battle, and were slaughtered.  The thing that threatened to cause the three armies' defeat was crucial for their victory.   God took one thing and worked it in multiple directions.  

See, I struggle enough getting from point A to point B.  It is difficult enough to cause "B" by using "A".  This inadequacy of mine only serves to emphasize the greatness of God, who can take something and cause it to further His will for everyone involved - even those we think might not be touched.  I struggle with the linear, with working in one direction, and our God is omnidirectional.  There is nothing beyond Him.  

This is the God we serve.  The God who can cause water to spring seemingly from nowhere, and use it not just to slake thirst, but to win battles.  The God whose miracle of the widow's oil didn't just save the widow and her children, but likely touched the neighbors from whom she obtained the jars; whose miracle of the Shunemite's son didn't just bless the woman, it likely amazed all her friends.  

So because He is omnidirectional, we can trust He has His hand upon all situations.  We can believe He can, as the psalmist prayed, rescue us from evildoers, and protect us from the violent.  And even when, having simply served Him, we are attacked, as were Paul and Barnabas by the Jews from Antioch and Iconium, even when we may have been dragged out and stoned, we can trust that He is in control; we can maintain the "cheerful heart" that is "good medicine", and not the "crushed spirit [that] dries up bones".

Father, even when we cannot see it, remind us that Your hand isn't just upon us, it is upon everything, and all that comes to pass You will have permitted, not just for one purpose, but for all purposes.