Out of Thin Air
Have you ever heard or used the phrase “vanished into thin air?” This saying was all too familiar for me growing up in school. More than once, a teacher said to me, “Mark, where is your homework? Don’t tell me it vanished into thin air!”
Instead of things that vanish into thin air, what about things that appear from thin air? They seemingly come from out of nowhere.
The term “out of thin air” means it's unexpected or seems like it came out of nowhere. When something shows up out of thin air, it appears suddenly and dramatically. You can use this phrase to describe a physical appearance, like how a magician makes a rabbit appear out of thin air…
The Bible uses a word to describe those out of thin air experiences. The word is “suddenly.” I’m sure there’s at least one, if not several areas of your life you could use a suddenly. You need God to appear out of thin air!
Whatever your current situation may be, I believe these scriptures can strengthen your faith and serve as a reminder that God is always working in the “suddenlys.”
When you’re being harassed by a spiritual enemy
“But the multitude of your [enemy] strangers that assail you shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless and terrible ones like chaff that blows away. And in an instant, suddenly, You shall be visited and delivered by the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.” (Isaiah 29:5-6)
When you feel like God has forgotten you
“I have declared from the beginning the former things [which happened in times past to Israel]; they went forth from My mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass [says the Lord].” (Isaiah 48:3)
When you have prayed but have not yet been healed
“And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [distressing] ailment.” (Mark 5:29)
When you’re confused and don’t understand
“And while they were gazing intently into heaven as He went, behold, two men [dressed] in white robes suddenly stood beside them, Who said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, Who was caught away and lifted up from among you into heaven, will return in [just] the same way in which you saw Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:10-11)
When nothing short of supernatural will work
“When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues resembling fire, which were separated and distributed and which settled on each one of them.” (Acts 2: 2-3)
When you need peace with family and friends
“Then on the next day he suddenly appeared to some who were quarreling and fighting among themselves, and he urged them to make peace and become reconciled…” (Acts 7:26)
When you need to be set free
“Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were unfastened.” (Acts 16:26)
Preparation and patience set us up for the instantaneous. What if we lived our lives regularly preparing for the irregular? Continuing on in the cadence of our own routine, daily expecting some spectacular thing to appear out of thin air!
I don’t know your exact situation or your greatest current challenge. What I do know is that tomorrow or in a minute for that matter, out of thin air everything could change! I pray that you believe daily for the God of Suddenly!