There's something both frightening and refreshing about the way God works.
He takes control of a life. He puts you in places you'd never expect to be, with people you'd never fathom meeting, for reasons you cannot even begin to try to understand. It is frightening in the sense that you never really come to a complete understanding of what is going on or where you really stand, yet refreshing when you look and accept that God is still in control.
I cannot even begin to approach all of the things the Lord is doing. In the best analogy I can think, it is like a jigsaw puzzle without a reference picture. You start with a bunch of scattered and seemingly unharmonious pieces. You see, a jigsaw is not painted as it is pieced together; rather, the picture that was painted long ago and is simply slowly revealed to the person who has received it. We piece this together and sometimes mistake some pieces for going other places. We suspect some pieces of being missing because others keep getting in the way. Yet there is a crescendo, a finale, a final result that is most beautiful when seen in full, and we see that no piece was missing, or extra, or ever mistaken. God designed us in full from the very beginning, yet He chooses that we might see His design progressively, that He might grow us in faith and be glorified to the greatest extent.
That is where I am. I've got this puzzle (quite literally, my life,) and I hold the pieces, and God guides my hand according to His purpose. Pieces that I never thought were part of the big picture indeed are. Pieces I never thought would link are linked, and worlds meet. And some which I have thought to be linked in one place, they wind up in another. Some were for an entirely different purpose than I had ever fathomed. Sometimes I have started with the most unconventional, unlikely piece and more has built on it than I could ever see. I know the picture is coming together. I cannot yet claim the epiphany of knowing what it may altogether be, but there is that strange and sweet understanding that all of it is indeed here to fit together.
From the beginning. The churches in Pittsburgh. The jobs I had there. The friends and fellowship. The ministry work. The theological discernment and growth. Move forward - School at New Tribes Bible institute. The church in Waukesha. The folk I've met here. Move forward -- ???. I don't know. I still don't know! ... And yet I'm not worried, anymore. I don't feel the need to know, anymore. The progressive revelation God has given me is enough. Seeing His faithfulness, His response to prayer, a growing understanding of who He is ...
Fleshed out, this experience is filled with great providence, revelation, miracle, divine appointment ... (my vocabulary is sounding somewhat charismatic here, hah!) For instance, who knew that a girl whom I had casually crossed on deviantART, found on MySpace, and struck conversation with through MSN one day would come to be my roommate here at NTBI? I have had several tiny, insignificant inclinations and actions like this that have blossomed into the most tremendous changes.
None of this is of anything I've done. I am not painting this picture; God already has.
He takes control of a life. He puts you in places you'd never expect to be, with people you'd never fathom meeting, for reasons you cannot even begin to try to understand. It is frightening in the sense that you never really come to a complete understanding of what is going on or where you really stand, yet refreshing when you look and accept that God is still in control.
I cannot even begin to approach all of the things the Lord is doing. In the best analogy I can think, it is like a jigsaw puzzle without a reference picture. You start with a bunch of scattered and seemingly unharmonious pieces. You see, a jigsaw is not painted as it is pieced together; rather, the picture that was painted long ago and is simply slowly revealed to the person who has received it. We piece this together and sometimes mistake some pieces for going other places. We suspect some pieces of being missing because others keep getting in the way. Yet there is a crescendo, a finale, a final result that is most beautiful when seen in full, and we see that no piece was missing, or extra, or ever mistaken. God designed us in full from the very beginning, yet He chooses that we might see His design progressively, that He might grow us in faith and be glorified to the greatest extent.
That is where I am. I've got this puzzle (quite literally, my life,) and I hold the pieces, and God guides my hand according to His purpose. Pieces that I never thought were part of the big picture indeed are. Pieces I never thought would link are linked, and worlds meet. And some which I have thought to be linked in one place, they wind up in another. Some were for an entirely different purpose than I had ever fathomed. Sometimes I have started with the most unconventional, unlikely piece and more has built on it than I could ever see. I know the picture is coming together. I cannot yet claim the epiphany of knowing what it may altogether be, but there is that strange and sweet understanding that all of it is indeed here to fit together.
From the beginning. The churches in Pittsburgh. The jobs I had there. The friends and fellowship. The ministry work. The theological discernment and growth. Move forward - School at New Tribes Bible institute. The church in Waukesha. The folk I've met here. Move forward -- ???. I don't know. I still don't know! ... And yet I'm not worried, anymore. I don't feel the need to know, anymore. The progressive revelation God has given me is enough. Seeing His faithfulness, His response to prayer, a growing understanding of who He is ...
Fleshed out, this experience is filled with great providence, revelation, miracle, divine appointment ... (my vocabulary is sounding somewhat charismatic here, hah!) For instance, who knew that a girl whom I had casually crossed on deviantART, found on MySpace, and struck conversation with through MSN one day would come to be my roommate here at NTBI? I have had several tiny, insignificant inclinations and actions like this that have blossomed into the most tremendous changes.
None of this is of anything I've done. I am not painting this picture; God already has.
"Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know His voice
Who ruled them while He dwelt below."
- Katharina A. von Schlegel, "Be Still, My Soul"
Posts
1 comment:
Beautiful post... it is wonderul to see how God works... and be part of it...blessings
Post a Comment