Whether you were glued to the television sensation of ER during the 1990s or still occasionally see what's new in the thirteenth season, most of us have an image of the hectic emergency room with or without the flat screen. We visualize doctors and nurses huddled around a patient with the united purpose of bringing that individual restored health. This photograph in our minds involves something very key. Mending a broken life only comes through the operating and working hand of someone who is in a condition to do so.

If you'll recall from an earlier study on the excluded King, there are many taboo subjects within grace teaching and dispensational circles. One such topic involves the positioning of God and whether or not He works (present tense) in this age. Perhaps some readers who are new to dispensationalism (or have nothing at all to do with it) are quick to find this line of debate practically absurd. Likely you find yourself rushing to ask, "Why, then, would anyone pray if He is not still working?" Before jumping to conclusions without hearing the argument, let me explain a little bit of the case for a "non-working God" in this present age. Please bear in mind that there is quite another case for the "working God" to be made that we'll dig into soon enough.

"Charity never faileth: but whether [there be] prophecies, they shall fail; whether [there be] tongues, they shall cease; whether [there be] knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." I Corinthians 13:8-10

Grace believers, including myself, tend to see this passage as referring to the completion of the Word of God. In other words, while love itself will never end, prophecy, tongues, and supernatural knowledge will end because the complete and perfect Word of God will make them no longer necessary. One of the common arguments opposing this is from those who believe that "the perfect" refers to Christ's future return in glory. While there are vast numbers of people who can make this reasonable counterargument, one thing that the "non-working God" view builds on is that knowledge vanishes away.

By knowledge, we are indeed referring to the kind of knowledge that is given as a spiritual gift.

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;" I Corinthians 12:7-8

Having a "word of knowledge" refers to a supernatural knowledge directly from God. In a recent chapel service I attended at school, our campus pastor introduced the special speaker by saying, "Let's pray that the Lord would open our hearts to the words that he has to share with us." To be fair, the speaker that morning used Romans 12 as his foundational teaching, but he also spoke from Aristotle and Edgar Allen Poe in order to better express his message to the audience. Are his words, those that include Aristotle and Poe, the words of God to us? Certainly not.

It is this that causes many within our circles to acknowledge that God only speaks through a venue of His Word. For if He is continuing to speak, it ought to be important enough that we write that which we hear down on paper, correct? Men from Muhammad to Joseph Smith claimed to have spoken with God through the person of Jesus Christ. And indeed they wrote down what they believed that He told them. Thus our world is now blended with Islam and Mormonism. And to that conclusion, we must concur that God's Word is complete and that He does not continue to reveal "more truth" beyond what His Word has already made perfect.

However, in saying all of this and making the case for a rather silent God who asks us to study His Word faithfully as Bereans (Acts 17:11, II Timothy 2:15), many men have extended such a conclusion to the point that they declare He neither works, nor cares about the "goings on" of mankind. This leap from silence to stillness is rather obscure and undefined, but no doubt I will incur the wrath of those who disagree. By no means shall it ever rest beneath me to accept a Biblical counterargument of God's decision to "stop" working in this age. If such an explanation exists, I welcome it.

But rather than muddle in the sorrow of what seems to be an illogical hurdle to jump, let us first go back to the illustration of an emergency room operating table. The scenario displays men and women working and operating. In other words, they are pouring their energy into someone who is either sick or injured.

"Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead." Colossians 2:12

Surely even the most opposed to a presently working God can agree that Colossians speaks to His operation in the raising of Christ from the dead. And surely, we can admit to one another that this was a past event. In other words, this particular "operation of God" was one that took place on our behalf and does not take place in the current day. And praise be to the Lord that it DID happen in the past!

The word operation comes from the Greek word energeia. If you tried sounding it out, you probably heard inertia, but if you simply looked at it, you no doubt saw energy. This particular energeia shows up eight times in the New Testament. Seven times it refers to the workings of God and once it refers to the workings of Satan. But in the grand scheme of things, energeia points to a supernatural operating system rather than a human one.

"Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working (energeia) which worketh (energeo) in me mightily." Colossians 1:29

Certainly it could always be said that God's supernatural working today is still the cross. And to a degree, few would argue. Yet it must be asked, once the cross is believed and salvation by grace through faith occurs, does the Lord and God of heaven sit down and do nothing in our lives? Does God's working stop when we believe in His Son Jesus Christ?

"For it is God which worketh (energeo) in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure." Philippians 2:13

That key word operation that we discovered in Colossians 2 introduced yet another truth about God. To operate, as it says, is to "effectually work." We find that it's used in Ephesians 3:7 and 4:16 as "effectually working." How can God's energy be effective if it is not constant or ever present? To conclude that He Himself, while silent in words, cannot work is to imply that He has no more energy for the task at hand. And what IS the task at hand?

"For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." I Timothy 2:3-4

In order for this to be true and for God to "will and to do" His good pleasure, He must continue operating. Take a look at the operating table of God in the past tense:

"Grace [be] to you and peace from God the Father, and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:" Galatians 1:4

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:" Galatians 3:13

"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law," Galatians 4:4

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Galatians 5:1

Our glorious and honorable God loved us, sent His Son Jesus Christ, gave Himself for us, redeemed us, and made us free. But it gets better.

"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" Ephesians 1:4

"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," Ephesians 1:5

"To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." Ephesians 1:6

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:32

While Ephesians tells us that He chose us, predestined us, accepted us, and forgave us, we're still left sitting on the sideline of the present age asking, "But what about now?" Perhaps some quickly jump to the ultimate lingering question, "What else do you have for me, God?" I implore you to pause for a moment, go back, and read through the passages above. Although it is true that there is a very present God that we'll see momentarily, it's invaluable that one not forget the Lord's most famous answer to Paul's prayer:

"And he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." II Corinthians 12:9

We will, of course, capture the depths of grace in a few pages, but at the present time (pardon the pun), we're dealing with how God works. And before one can really consider what God is doing today, it must first be trusted that He finished something in the past. To encapsulate the earlier passages, our God loved us, sent Himself, gave Himself, redeemed us, forgave us, and made us free. If that doesn't stop your heart to skip a beat, then you didn't read it all. Go read it again.

Having pointed to a God whose energy was heavily driven into a past event, does He do anything today? Certainly one must immediately draw out the absurdity of my question. How are any of us saved if all that God did rested in the past? Did He not awaken our spirits to the truth? Did He not turn the light on in our darkened hearts? Did He not make us alive when we were dead? Who among us can credit ourselves with having been the "saving power" that pointed someone to Christ? Surely if any of us are saved at all, God had His hand in making it happen, did He not? Or do we really theorize that we achieved salvation through our own righteous and knowledgeable means?

These are, for arguments' sake, just rationalized arguments in favor of a presently working God. Indeed they may be logical, but man's common sense is not superior to God's Word. Thus, we find ourselves begging the question of God exerting Himself in the present tense.

"The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:" II Timothy 1:16

"The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day: and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well." II Timothy 1:18

"Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things." II Timothy 2:7

"And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve [me] unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen." II Timothy 4:18

Give, grant, and deliver are present and future tense operations. To grant is to give what need not be paid back. Call it an added bonus for many of our college students who quickly snatch it up over extended loans. But some skeptics may now be asking themselves, "Is this all?" Surely we all know that we shall be delivered from any future wrath. Surely we all know that God gives us understanding in His Word. Surely we all know that He grants us mercy. But wait… do we really grasp this particular mercy? Take a look back.

"The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain:" II Timothy 1:16

We generally deem "mercy" as the gift of salvation, but we also recently introduced the notion of abundant mercy that stretches beyond what we can think or imagine. Since when does mercy end at the cross?

"Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful." Philippians 2:26-27

At a time when Paul is writing to Timothy to drink "a little wine" as a means to good health with his stomach ailment (I Timothy 5:23), most dispensational believers come to discover in their studies that this was a point when the "signs" of healing had begun to depart. And by every measurable standard, they really were disappearing. Who, then, is left to heal a man sick unto death but God Himself?

This, my friends, is the reason we find ourselves still praying for those in need. We are no longer granted a supernatural power to reach out and touch their health ailment and heal it, "but God" (remember that awesome and powerful two-word phrase) is beyond our realm of expectation. God's mercy extends beyond the cross and reaches into the specific needs of His people.

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ." Philippians 4:19

Our God is an ever-working, full-time Savior. Our prayers are valuable because they matter to the Almighty. When you encounter a believer who insists that God no longer works in this present age, ask them for the Biblical account of His vacation schedule. Although there is great caution that must be exercised with regard to a "working God" belief system (not rushing to put His signature on every event or claiming that He "must" have done something in particular), we can be confident that He has not left us to wander alone. Never late, never early, our God is always there.

"Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," Ephesians 3:20