September 29
Isaiah 54-55
Psalm 107:17-22
Proverbs 24:1-2
I Thessalonians 5:12-28
The Picture
“’For My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the Earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:8-11 NIV
The older I get the more I recognize how much I don’t know. When I was younger, I thought I was pretty smart. I thought I had it all figured out or at least had a good grasp of what was right and good. I am beginning to realize how little I understand. What I can see and perceive is only a small portion of the whole picture. I once heard a story of a little girl watching her grandmother embroidering a picture. Day after day she saw her grandmother tirelessly sewing, weaving her needle in and out of the material and tying knots while she played on the floor below. Her grandmother talked about the beautiful picture she was making and seemed very happy with her progress. As the days passed, the little girl became more and more confused because all she could see was random seams of thread dotted by ugly knots with dangling string. From her perspective on the ground, it was not a beautiful picture at all. She loved her grandmother and did not want to hurt her feelings, but she was afraid that her grandmother was wasting her time making something that no one would like. One day her grandmother took the picture out of the embroidery hoop and placed it on the kitchen table. She picked up the little girl, held her up, and showed her the finished product. The little girl was shocked. In front of her was the most beautiful picture she had ever seen. It was a garden with all different kinds of brightly colored flowers. In the middle was a large tree with a swing and a puppy and kitten playing below. It made her happy just to look at the beautiful scene. Her grandmother saw that she was confused and asked why. The girl explained that she had been watching her work on this picture for days and it just looked like a jumbled mess with strings and knots, so she didn’t understand how it had become this beautiful picture. Her grandmother turned the picture over and she realized that what she had been seeing was the bottom of the picture.
We are like this little girl. We are watching what God is doing from below. What we see often just looks like a big mess. We see random events that don’t make sense and sometimes everything just feels like it is all tied up in knots. We are only seeing a tiny piece of the big picture and our perspective doesn’t allow us to understand everything that is really going on. When we can’t understand, we have to just trust. We can place our faith in our Heavenly Father and have confidence that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He knows what He is doing. His purposes will be accomplished, and He will do what He says He will do. I believe that one day He will pick us up in His arms and show us the big picture and reveal to us the beauty of His plan. That may not happen this side of Heaven, but in the meantime, we can rest in the knowledge of His sovereignty and love for us.
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