Remember when you were in school and your math teacher gave you word problems? (ex. If you are on a train going 80 mph…?) I’d like to propose that God has very different answers for Word problems when He is teaching.
I’m learning that God is a God of multiplication, not simple addition (Matthew 14- 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5000); When comparing (> = <) numbers, God’s answers are often different than our estimations (Judges 7- God had Gideon subtract 31,700 men from his army); and the distance between two points can be far shorter or longer than our measurements (Israel spent 40 years in the wilderness for an 11 day trip).
In my life I’m learning to ask the Holy Spirit to set up my equations and estimations. For instance, recently God was preparing our hearts for a move and his timeline was “suddenly” (we got a call at the end of April and were moved across the country by June).
Some of God’s Word problems are in the form of the new territories of influence. He challenges me with new scenarios, and I find myself thinking “but God, that would take 1,000’s of hours to figure out.” He is teaching me that His answers sometimes come through divine revelation and people who have put in those hours and already possess the knowledge or skills for the assignment.
With the new math that kids learn now, I’m challenged by math as a whole. God’s Word problems are the biggest challenge, but His math is always right. As we face new problems in 2022, let’s go to God’s Word and let the Holy Spirit help us with the problems of time, distance, finances, and statistics—God’s Word offers solutions for everyone.
~Joy Howard
Christ Fellowship