The Bigger Picture

So lately I’ve been thinking about something, spiritually, and Monday night it sort of exploded and I totally sensed God’s presence concerning this battle I’ve been having (in my head). Let me give you some background. I have this friend, Hope, who is amazing. And we walk together two or three times a week. And so during that hour of walking we talk about lots of things like our lives, things we are thankful for, our struggles, and just lots of stuff. Last night while we were walking, we started to talk about my house that is for sale. I shared that I was frustrated that it had been on the market for a while and had not sold. Yet Hope and I have some friends whose house was on the market for 2 weeks and sold right away! I shared that I knew my house would sell when it was time. I just didn’t understand why God was allowing it to take so long. I know there is a reason why, I just don’t get it.

Now, I know this example isn't something that our students at Zion can necessarily relate to, but there are definitely struggles we each have and we may not understand when/where God is in the situation. For example, struggles with deciding about what college to attend or issues with parents or friends.

The spiritual struggle I have been convicted of lately is in reference to God’s timing. Well really, my timing and what I want versus God’s timing and what is God’s plan. Really, it's a faith issue. And the Bible actually has lots to say about "time." The most obvious one, I’m sure you remember. You know the ever famous verses from Ecclesiastes 3 about time and purpose. There’s a time to die, a time to live, reaping, sowing, dancing, laughing, crying, finding, losing, winning, listening, speaking. Remember all those?

But if you read further in that chapter you see: 11God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. 12I know the best thing we can do is to always enjoy life, 13because God's gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do. 14Everything God has done will last forever; nothing he does can ever be changed. God has done all this, so that we will worship him.

And this is what I realized Monday night when my friend, Hope, and I were talking. She made my personal dislike of the image of God as parent okay – NOT GREAT – but okay. She said that when we can’t understand why something isn’t happening the way or how fast we want it to, we have to remember that there is a bigger picture and God knows it and is present there. She described it like a parent knowing what’s best for us. And while we may sometimes dislike our parent’s decisions about things, they usually know what’s best for us because they can see the bigger picture! Yikes!

The greatest mistake people make is by looking at all things from a human view point. Waiting for God’s timing is one of the toughest things we have to do. But, I know from times past that it is so worth it. And so, whatever your struggle currently is, I am confident there is a bigger picture. You can’t see it right now, but I assure you it is there. It's kind of like the fog we had earlier this week. While we can't see very far beyond our hand in thick fog, we know there are things beyond it and eventually, when the fog rises, we will see! We've got to learn to just trust God that God will show it to us. Don’t rush it! It’s worth the wait!