Sights and Sounds
Isaiah 46:10b-11a
... ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass.”
Mathematician Edward Lorenz popularized the idea of ‘the butterfly effect,’ rhetorically arguing that something as seemingly gentle as a butterfly’s flapping wings can trigger something as devastating as tornado winds, and, whether that’s true or not, the point stands that seemingly trivial actions lead to wide-ranging consequences—just as a single spark can start a forest-fire and a single gunshot can start a civil war. Isaiah 46:10-11 puts this principle into providential perspective though, doesn’t it? Think of it, friend: how many unnoticed movements are happening right now—from rising clouds to migrating birds to pollinating bees—that seem totally inconsequential, even peripheral to God’s drama, but are in fact interwoven into the very heart of it?
I wonder: was that little sparrow I watched flutter around my birch this morning part of a greater spiritual act? Was that stray dog that kept our neighborhood company over the weekend sent for some deeper purpose? All of life is an exhibition of God’s providence. If only we had eyes to see it.