God's Activity in Men's Lives God's Active

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 is god? Why did he allow this to happen?" But Mary's comments centered on how God protected them, and gave them comfort in life and death. 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 a difficult colonial life.

Mary recounts show difficult it was to see their friends and family stripped, and torn as if sheep attacked by wolves. Her faith did not insulate her from the terror, or the personal emotional pain of the event, but she still recognized that God was able to deliver them, and protect those who remained alive until eventual deliverance came. Such is the outlook of a faith filled heart.

As she was carried across the countryside as an Indian captive, Mary wrote: "Now that comfortable Scripture presented itself to me, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee" (Isaiah 54.7). Thus the Lord carried me along from one time to another, and made good to me this precious promise, and many others." It was not the circumstances to which Mary looked for evidence of God, but to the God himself, and she knew that he would never leave or forsake her.

Ben Franklin Ben Franklin also lived a life which recognized that God's hand was always at work around him. His circumstances were the opposite of Mary's, in that he was raised in a well to do family, lived in the centers of commerce and education, and became a part of the political and leadership culture which shaped the direction of the new country. In his success and prosperity, Ben also looked to God as the source, and provision of the same.

In Part One, Ben writes: "And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave them success. My belief of this induces me to hope..." God was not limited by the circumstances around Ben, but Ben recognized that he could ultimately limit God's actions in his life by his own choices.

Ben continued in the same passage, and recorded his humble thoughts which recognized god as the source of all of his benefits. A must not presume that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may experience as.