The text was unexpected, as was the question posed in it.  I was stunned when I read it.  It was from my son, a new father for the fourth time. 

Here’s a paraphrase of his message: 

“Hey Dad, I’m catching up on things and saw that the blog you shared on February 24 was titled, “Hope Springs Eternal.”  If the date on it is correct, it would have been released on the day Hope (his newborn daughter) was born.  Was that coincidence or deliberate?”

And here was my reply:

“That was providential!  I knew you were at the hospital, but Hope wasn’t born yet.  Nor did I even know that was your chosen name for a girl.”

In fact, I didn’t even know she would be a girl!  Nobody but perhaps a few medical personnel who saw the ultrasounds knew the gender – by special request of my son and daughter-in-law.  The new parents wanted to be surprised.

And surprised they were.  A girl after three boys!

Then the wonder was compounded when it was discovered I inadvertently used her name in the title of that morning’s blog … AND discussed the very meaning of her name in the article!

Perhaps even more startling, no one made the connection – not even me! – until Hope’s father finally had a chance to pull up his email. But when noticed, it was striking.

God had done an extraordinary God-thing once again!

The internet isn’t big enough to contain all the examples of the Lord doing incredible things for me … and sending incredible messages to me … during my stumbling stroll through life. 

Like the miraculous events – multiple times! – that kept me from inadvertently injuring myself seriously or snuffing out my life altogether during the false security of my youthful conviction that I was immortal.

Or the out-of-the-blue phone call offering me my dream summer job when I was a teen, which I subsequently worked multiple summers.

Or the time I nursed a struggling car into the first parking lot available on a trip many states from home, only to discover it was the parking lot of a mechanic who just happened to be there on a Saturday when he normally wasn’t, and who fixed the car in only hours.

Or the unsolicited phone call from a dear lady in the congregation made simply to thank me for being her pastor and to tell me I was doing a great job at a time when I was privately quite discouraged.  (Clearly she was moved by God to punch in my number and pass on that message that day!)

Not to mention the countless times the Lord sent me just the passage I needed … or an unexpected visual during the normal routine of life … to reassure me that He was with me and working for me and that all would be well.

The list could go on-and-on.  And I am confident that your list of similar experiences could too! With minimal thought, every believer can look back on a long list of God’s interventions – of times of miraculous provision and protection, of unexpected epiphanies and astounding blessings. 

It’s what God has already done for us; it’s what God will continue to do for us!

Which leaves us praising our Lord in awe, as did Moses, Miriam and the Israelites after the Lord brought them through the Red Sea on dry land, only to have the waters come crashing down on the Egyptian army pursuing them: “Who among the gods is like you, Lord?  Who is like you — majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?” (Exodus 15:11)

Are you discouraged; disheartened; even despairing?  Exhausted to the extreme; weak and worn down?  Uncertain in current circumstances and searching for clarity?  Unsure how to proceed?  Feeling isolated or even abandoned?  Relationship quandaries?  Health issues?  Financial challenges?  Struggling in life in any way?

You have a wonder-working God who is always with you, who always loves you, who is always fighting for you, who is always working everything for your good, and who still does miracles!  Even today.  Even in your and my life! 

He’s a God who created and controls everything in the cosmos, yet who knows you personally and fully.  A God who is aware of every minute detail in this busy world, yet who is actively engaged in your life and who is intricately involved in caring for you … someone whom he loves with all his heart and blesses in infinite ways.  Sometimes even … (especially!) … through incredibly tough times!

Who is like our God – the God who brought Baby Hope into the world and the God of our hope?  The God who sees to it that an article about hope is unknowingly shared on a day Hope is born?

“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, [a poetic name for God’s people], who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:26-27).

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Isaiah 44:6-8
“This is what the Lord says — Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. Who then is like me? Let him proclaim it. … Do not tremble, do not be afraid. … Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”  (Isaiah 44)

Micah 7:18-19
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.  (Micah 7:18-19)

Psalm 89:1-2, 5-9
I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. … The heavens praise your wonders, Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings? In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. Who is like you, LORD God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you. 

Psalm 113:1-6
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants; praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?  (Psalm 113)