We spoke in the previous two lectures about the life of surrender and the life of peace.
And a person cannot surrender his life to God unless he trusts in the work of God. Likewise, he cannot live in peace unless he is confident that God is working. Therefore, I would like to speak to you today about God who works.

God always works

Christianity never proclaims that God, in His loftiness, is separated from البشر, but rather teaches us that “God is with us,” Emmanuel, walking among us doing good, working continually for our sake…

In truth, God was working for us even before we were created:
For our sake, He raised the heaven as a roof for us, and prepared the earth for us to walk upon. For our sake, He restrained the sea and subdued the nature of animals. He was working for us. He arranged light, vegetation, water, and air for us. Then He created us to enjoy nature in its most beautiful form…

And after God created the universe, He continued to work in it; He did not leave it.
He finished the work of creation on the sixth day, but He continued in the work of care throughout the ages… This seventh day, of which it was said that God rested, seems to be the most active of days…

We are happy, for we feel that God works… And as long as He works, our hearts are filled with peace. We see the work of God and rejoice. And whenever we face a problem, we say to Him: “This is Your day, O Lord. Work as You have worked before.”

We entrust to Him all our matters, and contemplate how He manages them. We see how He works with all love and all perfection. And we remember the saying of the Lord:
“My Father has been working until now, and I also work.”

Truly, whenever you face a problem, say with reassurance: My Father works…

Look at a story like the story of Jonah, how the Lord was working:
God was the hero of the story, not Jonah. He began working by assigning Jonah a mission, and when he fled, the Lord began to work: He stirred the winds, the sea, and the waves, until He saved the people of the ship. Then He prepared a great fish that swallowed Jonah, then commanded the fish to cast him onto the land. And after teaching Jonah a lesson, He commanded him to go to Nineveh, so he went and preached to it.

And when the Lord saved Nineveh, He began to work on treating Jonah’s النفسية. He commanded an east wind that struck his head so that he withered, and prepared a plant to shade him, then commanded a worm that struck the plant. Then He reasoned with Jonah, convinced him, and saved his soul.

It is a wondrous tactic by which the Lord works, in amazing harmony…

And in His work, He employed all the forces of nature: the sea, the air, the waves, the sun, the fish, the worm, the plant… And the divine plan succeeded in saving the people of the ship, the people of Nineveh, and Jonah.

And in the story of the Ark, we also see the work of God, complete and coordinated, by which He saved the world from evil, rescued the righteous, and preserved life on earth. And He was with Noah in the Ark, and with the dove of peace…

And in the story of offering Isaac as a sacrifice, we see the work of God clearly.
Isaac was not able to save himself, nor able to oppose his father. And his father was not able to oppose the Lord. The matter seemed difficult and complex. But God intervened, worked, and saved…

As long as Isaac believes in the work of God, then he lies on the wood at rest!
And as long as Abraham believes in the work of God, then it becomes easy for him to offer his only son! And at the final moment, God worked when the knife was raised to slaughter…

In our contemplation of the works of God, we see that the work of redemption is the most wondrous.
Humanity was unable to save itself, and all were under the حكم of death, and Satan had become the ruler of this world. Then the work of God appeared in the wondrous Incarnation, in bearing the sins of the world, and in offering Himself on the cross as an atonement for the sins of the whole world…

And in His wondrous Incarnation, He prepared the Virgin who could bear this great glory, and prepared the angel who would prepare the way before Him, and prepared all the signs that preceded the fullness of time. Indeed, He prepared the universe for this great event. And the work of God began in amazing coordination and quiet arrangement…

Look also at Peter and Paul, each of them in prison, unable to save himself, and the Church also unable. But God was working…
He loosed the chains and bonds, opened the prison doors, awakened Peter, brought out Paul, and saved the jailer of Philippi. And the work of God appeared wondrous…

God works continually, especially when we are unable or when we refuse.
The Samaritan woman did not seek salvation, and perhaps she did not think of it or desire it, but God desired it and desired her. Thus God sought and worked Himself for her salvation, and made her a preacher to others.

She committed many errors. But when the hour of God’s chosen work came, the Lord worked powerfully and succeeded in the work of salvation…

God works in the repentance of sinners, even without their asking…
Without their ability, and without their desire: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do.” He is the one who convicts of sin. He is the one who teaches us the ways of salvation…

You lose your peace if you think that God does not work, as David said reproachfully: “Why, O Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble?”

I do not hide, O David, nor am I far, but you are the one who does not see Me… By faith you see Me near, working with you and for your sake.

God, just as He works with groups, churches, and peoples, works also with individuals:
Amid the thousands crowded around Him, He was able to focus His attention on one sinful individual, Zacchaeus, and called him by name, went to his house, and saved him. He also cared for a fearful person who came to Him by night, Nicodemus: He spoke to him, convinced him, and made him one of His own after he had been a member of the Sanhedrin. And He cared for another individual, appearing to him on the road: Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the Church, and turned him into a great apostle.

He cared for the Samaritan woman, cared for Mary the sister of Lazarus, cared for Mary Magdalene, met the man born blind, and appeared to Peter after his denial.

With God who works, the individual is not lost in the crowd…
Do not say, “Who am I among billions?!” No, God cares for you as an individual, just as He cares for peoples and nations. Every person has a place and a value before God. The God who cares for all cares for you personally.

God who worked in the past works now and at all times. He works continually and does not grow weary as humans do…

Even with demons, He works, restraining them for a thousand years and rebuking them so that they do not harm His children. The angel said to Satan: “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, the Lord rebuke you” (Zech 3).

And among God’s works is His care for ministry and His calling of servants…
I imagine Him walking by the sea calling Simon and Andrew. I imagine Him by the tax office calling Levi, and on the road to Damascus calling Saul. And from the womb He calls Jeremiah…

John saw the Lord Christ walking in the midst of the seven lampstands, which are the seven churches. He is the Lord who rides upon the cherubim, who walks on the wings of the wind…

He goes about cities and villages, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every weakness among the people, caring for everyone…

Even after the Lord ascended to heaven, He continued to work…
He says: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

He is there preparing a place for us, then comes and takes us to Himself… He still works, giving a word to the preachers, giving them a mouth and wisdom which all their adversaries cannot resist.

And just as God works for the spiritual needs of people, He works for their material needs.
“Do not worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or what you will wear. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things…” He sends rain upon the earth, brings forth the fruits of the field in their measure, and satisfies every living thing with His goodness.

Indeed, He also works for the birds of the sky and the lilies of the field…
The birds of the sky that neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. He gives food to the young ravens that do not call upon Him. And He gives the lilies of the field color, fragrance, and beauty, and even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these…

God works for the whole world, for everyone, even for sinners.
And if not for His work for sinners, no one would be saved. But He “came to seek and to save that which was lost.” “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, the righteous for the unrighteous”… Even those who flee, He pursues.

He is with the foolish of the world, the weak of the world, the despised, and the things that are not.
He works for the barren who have not borne: Rachel, Hannah, and Elizabeth…

And how many are the stories of God’s work in history…
On the day when Emperor Constantine ordered the acceptance of Arius, the Lord struck Arius and he died…

Also, if we contemplate how the Lord saved the Church from Nero and from Diocletian, from the persecutions of the Roman emperors, and from the ideas of philosophers, we would know how the hand of the Lord was working powerfully, so that it destroyed all the power of the enemy and kept the Church alive.

Likewise, we saw how God worked with the martyrs, and without that the Church would have ended and drowned in a flood of blood in the days of paganism.

God works with the silent, those whose meekness prevents them from speaking.
Mary, betrothed to Joseph the carpenter, was found with child while she was a virgin. Her fiancé was troubled and wanted to put her away secretly, and she did not know how to speak. So the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream and explained to him the work of the Holy Spirit.

The simple Magi, whom Herod wanted to manipulate, God warned in a dream to depart by another way. Likewise, He warned Joseph the carpenter to take the Child and go to Egypt…

God works in this way through dreams, visions, and miracles.

And in His work, God can turn evil into good, as He did with Joseph the righteous. And when we believe this, we are reassured and filled with peace.

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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Thirty-Nine) 30-9-1977

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