God's Activity In Men's Lives
God's Active Role
How many people look for God's activity in their lives, and never come up with the evidence? Yet, in the lives of Mary Rowlandson, and Ben Franklin, they recognized the working of The Almighty in their every day circumstances. Maybe it was that they didn't look for God to prove himself to them, but they acknowledged that the Almighty God is always at work. Maybe it was their colonial upbringing which emphasized that God is active in the lives of his children which taught them to see the Hand of God in everyday situations.
What could be said with a measure of certainty is that these two did not have a pre-determined list of what they expected god to do for them. In the two readings, Ben Franklin recognized God's hands in protection and providential care throughout his lifetime which grew from one success to the next. Mary Rowlandson acknowledged God's hand in the hardship that became her life after being taken captive by Indians from a colonial settlement. In both cases, Mary and Ben did not select the circumstances to determine the presence of god's provision, but rather their trust in his care allowed them to see that God is always at work, and always about the lives of his children.
Mary Rowlandson
Mary lived during the colonial times in a frontier settlement. She lived with a total of 37 people who applied their wills, shoulders and backs to the task of claiming a new life from the forest. But the colonial settlement was not a safe place, and as the colonists pushed into Indian land, the Indians often fought back. One afternoon, an Indian tribe attacked Mary's home, and in a tragic slaughter, 24 out of 37 were carried away captive, and the balances of the settlers, save one, were killed. In such a case, many who waver in their faith cry out "Where...
One mother who saw her children murdered cried that she could no longer live without her children. In Response, Mary identified god's hand as she recorded
My eldest sister being yet in the house, and seeing those woeful sights, the infidels hauling mothers one way, and children another, and some wallowing in their blood: and her elder son telling her that her son William was dead, and myself was wounded, she said, "And Lord, let me die with them," which was no sooner said, but she was struck with a bullet, and fell down dead over the threshold" (Introduction)
Where was God during this calamity? According to Mary, he was right beside them, protecting them from agony greater than they could withstand, even if it meant death.
How does a person find this kind of God, who protects by death? The question is not who to find the Almighty, but how to find the faith that trusts God regardless of what comes into a life. Of the final outcome of the raid, Mary records the following faith filled words:
The Indians laid hold of us, pulling me one way, and the children another, and said, "Come go along with us"; I told them they would kill me: they answered, if I was willing to go along with them, they would not hurt me. Oh the doleful sight that now was to behold at this house! "Come; behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he has made in the earth." Of thirty-seven persons who were in this one house, none escaped either present death, or a bitter captivity, save only one"
Even in despair, Mary identified the works of the Almighty as protecting those who remained alive, and allowing those who died to find a better resting place for their souls than…
