Recently, our daughter shared with us an issue she had with an assignment from college. In a book review, she shared that the author had misused the word "literally," choosing it over the word "figuratively" in the context of the novel. She shared that one of her greatest pet-peeves is when a word gets used incorrectly, citing her high school English teachers for that newfound frustration.
It dawned on me how many times we have done just that with so many of the common words we use today. We take a word that we think we know its meaning, and co-opt it for another purpose. In Kaitlyn's example, the author said that the "wire literally wrapped around itself." You know as well as I do, that wire does not wrap itself around anything without help. The author should have used figuratively, rather than literally. Especially since the word "literally" refers to words themselves, spoken, written, or otherwise, and not to wire.
For another example, the word Providence. How many times have we talked about something begin providential? In that we mean that something has happened quite by accident, but the event has turned out somehow in our favor. Literally (not figuratively!) the word "providence" refers to "the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth." In this instance, we have taken God completely out of the picture, and yet, the very definition refers to God's care and guidance, knowing our needs even before we ask, and then providing it for us.
One can only assume that God would do this because God loves creation. It is out of God's abundant care and mercy that we find God's nurturing love providing for our care. Somehow, we've mistakenly believed that the word has nothing to do with God at all, but rather it is all by accident or chance, and we happened to have won the lottery of sorts.
The grace of God is not by accident. The care and provision of God does not come by chance. It is not a mere hypothesis of possibility that we are fortunate enough to have provided for us our next day, meal, or even breath. No, it is purely by the hand of the One who created all there is, and then stuck around to see how it would all turn out. More than that, God has been actively engaged in helping us, nurturing us, and giving us what we need, sometimes even before we need it.
When I was a child, my father taught me to be aware of what was going on around me, so that I could be of assistance. When we worked in the garage, I was taught to be aware of what tool would likely be needed next, and to have it ready. Only by becoming aware of what was happening would I be able to help out. Does not our God do the same? Standing beside us, especially when we are in need, offering us the gentle help and tender care of a friend, the warmth of a community of believers, the surrounding love of a family, the provisional needs to sustain us when we need it most?
God's eternal love for God's creation is everlasting. It is here and now, and evermore. God's love is providential. All we need to do is trust it. God is here with us. And God will see us through all that is before us.
Grace and peace,
Brad
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