A devotion by a favorite author that I religiously read daily jarred me to an awakening earlier this week.

It reminded me that often when we are searching for a glimpse of the heavenly kingdom breaking through to this world, we’re misleading ourselves. We aren’t actually seeking, but rather, we’ve just stopped seeing God in action.

The writer floored me with this line: “In a thousand ways, (Jesus) was saying that God comes to us disguised as our life.”

Holy smokes! … Talk about upending our faith lives!

That simple statement reminded me that often while I am waiting for God to intercede in a situation — be it my own life or in the broader world — we are completely missing the point!

Through so many lessons, Jesus reminds us that actually … God is present right here, right now, all the time. And most often, if we can’t see God, then we’re focused on ourselves.

Full disclosure: I’ve run through a bit of a sombre period as of late. Work pressures, parishioners living through significant heartbreaks and the collective general sense that so many feel that the fabric of society seems to be ripping apart before our very eyes have weighed on me.

And in my prayer life, I have struggled with wondering where God is in all of this. Why was God waiting to intervene for so many who are hurting? … So many whys, friends.

Then I read the devotional that jarred me back to consciousness. “God comes to us disguised as our life!”

Of course this is true! And if for a short time, we are able to set our selfish needs aside, we can see that the Holy Spirit is most certainly active all around us. But sometimes we just become too myopic to see it because we’re focused on our own desired outcome.

I know this is the case for me!

This doesn’t diminish that there is true suffering in this world. It doesn’t trivialize injustices such as racism and violence and greed. All of that remains as real as our own flesh.

But for a great many of us, if we could set aside our own selfish outcomes we desire — because let’s be honest that is what troubles us most — God is acting in all of the material things surrounding us every day.

This may sound like small consolation to those who are experiencing real suffering. And if that is you, I will not patronize you with ignorant and unnecessary niceties. Because thanks to sin — as defined by being separated from God — does exist. And that does feel like hell; I won’t belittle that.

But more often for most of us, when we’re in our Eeyore mode, we’ve actually just stopped looking for evidence of God in our lives. Amen.

Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.