WHAT NO EYE HAS SEEN

“But as it is written:

‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’

I Corinthians 2:9

Many years ago, I traveled to Nepal to adopt my first child. Nepal, located between India and China, is one of the poorest countries in the world. I had waited many years to become a mother, and now, as a single woman, I felt God leading me to adopt a three-year-old girl. Her mother had died, and her father could not provide for her.

I arrived in Kathmandu, trusting God to lead the way. I was sure He would go before me, and I had no reason to doubt I would go home with my new daughter. But after two weeks of bureaucratic delays and attempted bribery, the official in a small community near the border of China, high in the Himalayan Mountains, denied the adoption.

My hope that God would give me a daughter seemed impossible despite my prayers and friends’ prayers. After spending hours in this remote village near Mount Everest, we returned to Kathmandu. Exhausted, I lifted my sorrowful pleas to God. Was there any way to reverse what seemed like a final decision?

A local church pastor in Kathmandu had been helping me, and he had an idea—that we would appeal directly to the Home Minister. Only he and the Prime Minister had the authority to reverse the district official’s decision.

The big day arrived to meet the Home Minister. We took a taxi to the courthouse, and I waited in the lobby area as my adoption facilitator/pastor went inside the Home Minister’s office. Within a few minutes, my friend reappeared, informing me the Home Minister had reversed the decision. I praised God for touching his heart. I had prayed for years to become a mother. Without God’s intervention, it never would have happened.

A flurry of activity followed to complete all the paperwork to bring my new daughter back to the States. On one of our many trips through the Himalayan Mountains, I sat in the van with her, waiting on paperwork. The mountains seemed to reach into the heavens and touch the throne room of God.

It was quiet as the sun arched high in the sky, and the immense beauty around us struck me. I Corinthians 2:9 came to mind:  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard..”

I felt caught up to Heaven at that moment anticipating the more excellent eternal home that awaited us. I thought about how there would be no bureaucratic red tape, bribery or endless forms to fill out. I looked forward to seeing God’s majesty and splendor that we can only dimly see now. In reflective moments, I’ve thought about that adoption experience many times.

Recently, however, God revealed something I failed to grasp on that day long ago in Nepal. That vision wasn’t just for Heaven—it was for Earth.

I failed to anticipate God’s future glory in His Kingdom here—the joy of adopting not one daughter but another daughter from Viet Nam, returning to Nepal two decades later to bring Christian books to a church in Kathmandu, working as a kitchen helper at Echo Bible Camp for kids in Juneau, Alaska; visiting inmates in prison and giving them hundreds of books to read from Christian authors; donating devotional books to an organization helping women caught up in the sex trafficking trade; and even making another trip to Israel.

God had plans for me beyond my wildest imagination. And you also. Have you thought about what Good Works God has prepared for you?

While it’s exciting to think about what awaits us on the other side, God gives us gifts and talents to further His Kingdom here. People need the Lord—the rich, the poor, the oppressed, the homeless, the addict, the teacher, the businessman, and the nomads in Africa. The needs are great, and the workers are few.

God gives inspiring examples of people in the Bible who were just like you and me. People no one would have guessed were destined for greatness. Moses was a young baby left in some reed bushes in the Nile River. Joseph was sold into slavery and spent years behind prison walls. Esther was orphaned and hid her identity to protect her adoptive family from persecution. Ruth had no Jewish lineage but became the bloodline of the King of kings.

These mighty men and women are only a sampling of those God used. They did the most important thing: They loved God and performed Good Works for the Kingdom of God.

We are God’s workmanship (Ephesians 2:10). We are His heart in a world becoming more and more godless and more and more corrupt. Jesus told His followers in Luke 9:23: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

The Kingdom of God is here on Earth through His Bible-believing church. We as Christians are joined together as One Body through the Holy Spirit to love as Jesus loves us.

I John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Jesus showed us who He was through His Love and Good Works, including His death on the cross. When He proclaimed, “It is finished,” He paid for our one-way ticket to Heaven, and Satan was defeated (John 19:30).

During Jesus’ ministry (Good Works), He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

What gift has God given you? Use it. What calling has God put on your heart? Pray about it. What longing keeps you awake at night? Ask God to fulfill it. What grieves your soul? Ask God what you can do about it. Don’t lose heart. What stirs our hearts stirs the heart of God even more.

The most important work we can do is share the Kingdom of God with the lost. Christ’s Body, the church, is a formidable weapon that demons can’t destroy, and the Holy Spirit works through imperfect people like you and me.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for Good Works [emphasis mine], which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

God’s Good Works are unfathomable, His vision is beyond understanding, and our redemption was so priceless that only the Son of God could pay for it.

Don’t delay talking to the Savior if you hear God’s clarion call. He will listen if you shout or if you whisper. He is waiting. No bribes, misfortunes, or sin can hold back the Kingdom of God for those who love Him.

Prayer: Help me, Lord, to pray big. Help me to believe there is no prayer so big that You aren’t bigger still.