God and Nature Fall 2020
Search Engines for God Moments |
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By Angie Cornwell
In the natural world, many animals hide in plain sight by using camouflage to blend into the environment. There are many amazing, incredible examples, both terrestrial and marine. The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques), for example, resembles a slowly drifting piece of floating seaweed. Only when you look closely do you notice small eyes on a contoured head and rapidly moving fins. The walking stick bug of the insect family Phasmatidae is a particularly amusing terrestrial example. Its elongated body and legs and its coloration resemble an inedible twig, so it rests safely in plain view on tree branches, escaping the detection of most predators. These insects use behavioral camouflage as well, remaining still for hours at a time to avoid predation.
When you move rapidly through the environment without paying careful attention, you will never notice these camouflaged creatures. But when you stop and take time to look for them, and when you know what you are looking for—in other words, when you have developed the proper search engine to scan the environment for them—then you begin to see them everywhere. You may cry out in delight when you first begin to notice these amazing life forms, and later you may wonder how you ever missed seeing them.
In the natural world, many animals hide in plain sight by using camouflage to blend into the environment. There are many amazing, incredible examples, both terrestrial and marine. The leafy seadragon (Phycodurus eques), for example, resembles a slowly drifting piece of floating seaweed. Only when you look closely do you notice small eyes on a contoured head and rapidly moving fins. The walking stick bug of the insect family Phasmatidae is a particularly amusing terrestrial example. Its elongated body and legs and its coloration resemble an inedible twig, so it rests safely in plain view on tree branches, escaping the detection of most predators. These insects use behavioral camouflage as well, remaining still for hours at a time to avoid predation.
When you move rapidly through the environment without paying careful attention, you will never notice these camouflaged creatures. But when you stop and take time to look for them, and when you know what you are looking for—in other words, when you have developed the proper search engine to scan the environment for them—then you begin to see them everywhere. You may cry out in delight when you first begin to notice these amazing life forms, and later you may wonder how you ever missed seeing them.
"As we humble ourselves, we encounter Him more and more, and then we take great delight in noticing His presence in our lives." |
“God moments” are like these camouflaged animals. He is always working in our lives, but we are often not paying attention, so we don’t see the incredible things He is doing for us, and we don’t feel His presence. Sometimes we don’t notice Him because our eyes are cast down; we are too immersed in our own troubles and sorrows and can only see our own pain and suffering. This inward focus prevents us from seeing Him and from noticing the gifts we have been given.
My own life is an example of this kind of blindness to God’s presence. There was a time in my life when I only saw my own misery, regret, and loneliness, but now I can see how God’s hand was present in my life even during that period. He brought healing so that thirty years later, my story would encourage and inspire others not to give up on themselves.
Sometimes we don’t see camouflaged animals because we don’t want to see them. Likewise, we sometimes defiantly close our eyes because we don’t want to see God. We want to follow our own paths. We want to be in full control of our lives, or at least believe that we are in full control. Stubbornly, we refuse to see Him because we don’t want to follow where He leads. Jonah experienced this type of defiance when he turned away from the people of Ninevah. There was a time when, because the advice of the world seemed to make more sense to me, I shut out God’s will and sought my own path. Yet even then, God was working to bring me back from darkness into His light. When I was humbled enough to return, He welcomed me with open arms.
We also fail to see camouflaged animals when we are distracted by the many things that are much easier to notice, and God moments in our lives are hard to spot for that same reason. These flashy distractions of the world block our ability to focus on heavenly things. We often think that such distractions are frivolous things, such as spending time on Twitter or Facebook, binge-watching movies or TV shows, or playing video games all day. However, they can also be things that we deeply value, such as our education, our careers, our reputations, spending time with our families and friends, and even time spent following the latest pandemic news. In my current position, the call to work harder and harder for the young people placed under my instruction can demand my all.
The more we pay attention, the more we surrender, and the more we refine our search engines to find His pattern, the more we will recognize that God is working in our lives, even when we don’t pay attention to Him, even when we mistakenly believe we are in charge and don’t need Him, and even when we are too busy with other things to notice Him. As we humble ourselves, we encounter Him more and more, and then we take great delight in noticing His presence in our lives. Soon we begin to see Him everywhere! We begin to understand how He is alive, working and moving in our midst. We find joy in these realizations and comfort in knowing how we fit into His perfect plans. It takes focus and practice to improve our ability to detect God moments in our lives, but as we train ourselves through prayer, fellowship with His body, and reading His Word, it will get easier and easier to detect His imprint. We will cry out in delight and amazement, and later wonder how we ever missed seeing Him. God is working! Hallelujah!
Angie Cornwell has been teaching as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Gordon College since 2014. She teaches microbiology, molecular biology, medical biotechnology, animal biology, animal physiology, and senior seminar. She serves as the faculty mentor for the student chapter of the ASA as well as for Sigma Xi-The Scientific Honor Society. She is an active member of the Danvers Church of the Nazarene in Danvers, MA, and serves on the Board as well as the worship team.
My own life is an example of this kind of blindness to God’s presence. There was a time in my life when I only saw my own misery, regret, and loneliness, but now I can see how God’s hand was present in my life even during that period. He brought healing so that thirty years later, my story would encourage and inspire others not to give up on themselves.
Sometimes we don’t see camouflaged animals because we don’t want to see them. Likewise, we sometimes defiantly close our eyes because we don’t want to see God. We want to follow our own paths. We want to be in full control of our lives, or at least believe that we are in full control. Stubbornly, we refuse to see Him because we don’t want to follow where He leads. Jonah experienced this type of defiance when he turned away from the people of Ninevah. There was a time when, because the advice of the world seemed to make more sense to me, I shut out God’s will and sought my own path. Yet even then, God was working to bring me back from darkness into His light. When I was humbled enough to return, He welcomed me with open arms.
We also fail to see camouflaged animals when we are distracted by the many things that are much easier to notice, and God moments in our lives are hard to spot for that same reason. These flashy distractions of the world block our ability to focus on heavenly things. We often think that such distractions are frivolous things, such as spending time on Twitter or Facebook, binge-watching movies or TV shows, or playing video games all day. However, they can also be things that we deeply value, such as our education, our careers, our reputations, spending time with our families and friends, and even time spent following the latest pandemic news. In my current position, the call to work harder and harder for the young people placed under my instruction can demand my all.
The more we pay attention, the more we surrender, and the more we refine our search engines to find His pattern, the more we will recognize that God is working in our lives, even when we don’t pay attention to Him, even when we mistakenly believe we are in charge and don’t need Him, and even when we are too busy with other things to notice Him. As we humble ourselves, we encounter Him more and more, and then we take great delight in noticing His presence in our lives. Soon we begin to see Him everywhere! We begin to understand how He is alive, working and moving in our midst. We find joy in these realizations and comfort in knowing how we fit into His perfect plans. It takes focus and practice to improve our ability to detect God moments in our lives, but as we train ourselves through prayer, fellowship with His body, and reading His Word, it will get easier and easier to detect His imprint. We will cry out in delight and amazement, and later wonder how we ever missed seeing Him. God is working! Hallelujah!
Angie Cornwell has been teaching as an Assistant Professor of Biology at Gordon College since 2014. She teaches microbiology, molecular biology, medical biotechnology, animal biology, animal physiology, and senior seminar. She serves as the faculty mentor for the student chapter of the ASA as well as for Sigma Xi-The Scientific Honor Society. She is an active member of the Danvers Church of the Nazarene in Danvers, MA, and serves on the Board as well as the worship team.