One of the major things God has taught me this year is how to love and to know more of the God of the “ordinary”. Before I became a Christian and when I was a new believer, God revealed Himself in extraordinary ways. We are taught (and rightly so) that we serve an extraordinary God. We declare to our problems or situations that we have an extraordinary God that does wonders, whose presence is felt, the source of strength and a fountain of power (and that is correct).

But a tension occurs when our extraordinary God does not do something “extraordinary” today. Whether we like it or not, not everyday is an extraordinary day.

This is not a thanksgiving/gratitude issue, but that of false expectations from God. We want God to act and move in a certain way at a certain time at our conditions. “Familiarity breeds contempt” as the saying goes and the ordinariness of our days, the routine work that we do sometimes give us contempt, a certain type of unhealthy discontentment.

The Bible records important events (like any other biographies as well) it is about God and His extraordinary acts in the lives of ordinary men, but sometimes I wonder, what are the heroes of faith doing when they are not doing something extraordinary? In between the lines in the bible about their great stories, how are they doing in their ordinary days?

“One thing I ask from the LORD,this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple…Wait for the LORD;be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. “ – psalm 27:4, 14 (NIV)

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” – Psalm 119:105 (NLT)

“ Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and all the people.” – 2:52 (NLT)

The answer: They are being ordinary. Very much like us. They were doing routine work, fighting the good fight of faith, waiting upon the Lord, acting wisely, obedient to the Word, building their character, depending on God, being an open vessel, a ready vessel, seeking Him, dwelling/staying with Him, resting with Him, loving His Word, ready to obey the moment the Word was spoken, resisting evil, doing good, nothing spectacular, nothing amazing; ordinary. Like you and me.

Majority of our lives are consumed by ordinary days. Graduation is just a one day event, we celebrate our birthday once a year but the actual event happened only once, a promotion happened in just one day, yet these events;these “extraordinary” events happened because of what we did with our ordinary days prior to that moment and what we will do with the upcoming average days after that event will define us.

It is easy to love God when we feel Him, rejoice on Him when something extraordinary happens or understand Him when He reveals His Word but in our ordinary days we fight for our relationship with Him. Will we still rest on the absolute, objective truth of His existence even when we do not feel Him, understand Him or if we don’t see Him move? Will we hold on to what he said to us in our “mountain-top” experience that it is enough to get us through our “valleys”? Will we wait and be strong and confident? Will we endure patiently? Do we believe when the feeling is gone? Are faithful despite the obvious ‘mediocrity’?

These are hard questions, but as long as we don’t accept the truth that God works in and through the ordinary days in ordinary ways we will have false expectations from Him.

Whether we like it or not, the ordinary days will keep on coming but we have a choice; to enjoy and rest on the truth of God’s sovereignty and be excellent and do “all for the glory of God” OR be discontented, bitter and manipulative.

The God that we praise in the extraordinary days is the same God that we obey in our ordinary days.