Seeing God at Work: What's My Reaction?

In today's Gospel, Lk 11: 14-23, Jesus "was driving out a demon that was mute, and when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed." Others accused Jesus of casting out demons by Satan's power. From Jesus' question to his objectors, "By whom do your people cast out demons," it is obvious that there were individuals among the objectors who also had the power to cast out Satan.   I can imagine the objectors saying to themselves: "Who is this guy? He is not one of us!He's not authentic!  He must be under Satan's influence!" 

Satan's goal on this earth is to create division, to cause chaos, to lead people to mistrust God at work in ourselves and in others.  The snare Satan sets for us is to engage in behaviors, in conversations, that pit one person against another, that leads others to question the authenticity and the motivations of another.  We may not be aware of  why we believe that "'nothing good' can come from the source which we are opposing.However, many times, when God is doing good in another, we are faced with mystery.  The response that brings about unity is one of reverence and awe, gratitude and affirmation; in short, behaviors flowing from our spirit-self, not from our egos. The ego always wants to be the center of attention, the one on the pedestal, the one who is right and the other wrong. The ego, as the egos of Adam and Eve, wants to be a god unto itself and does not believe God's promptings anymore than Adam and Eve did. Satan plants a doubt and says, in effect: "God really did not say you couldn't eat of that fruit. It really is not true that you will die. No, God knows that you will be like Him if you eat of it." And we know the rest of the story. We, too, get caught in this game of pretending to be God, always right and never wrong in our relationships with others, as with the objectors of Jesus doing good by the power of the Spirit working through  Him.

Humility in the face of God at work in another, especially if I do not like that person or believe what that person believes,  or if I perceive that person in competition with me, does not come easily.