![]() ![]() Campbell Morgan said, “The man who measures things by the circumstances of the hour is filled with fear the man who sees Jehovah enthroned and governing has no panic.” God moves in ways that are often mysterious and unpredictable. God is relentless in the pursuit to rule and overrule on behalf of our best interest. God is in control of every particle and molecule in His universe, and they are ordered and arranged to ensure our needs are met in perfect timing. ![]() You will never find a scene of crisis into which our Lord stepped that He is answerless and chewing His fingernails with worry. Even when the devil’s deception had stolen life and hope from man in the Garden of Eden, God revealed a plan for redemption. It is for this reason that God is never caught off-guard, disadvantaged, or checkmated. In fact, God has an array of plans that are never exhausted by earthly problems. No matter how bleak the circumstances we face may appear, it is comforting to know that God still has a plan. In Ephesians 1:11, Paul notes that our lives are ordered “.according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” While life can often be difficult to understand, there is a much bigger picture being played out than we can see. Perhaps that is why Max Lucado said, “Faith is the conviction that God knows more than we do about life and He will get us through it.” Because God dwells in eternity rather than in time, there is no angle of our life of which He is unaware. Our inability to see what is coming next does not mean that God cannot see it. A great danger to our lives is that of putting a horizon on God. As one stands on a beach and looks out across the ocean, there is a line where it appears the earth has fallen away. Just as God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours, God’s purposes are broader than our ability to fully perceive. Jesus would answer him in verse 7, “.What I do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter.” It was His way of saying, “There is a bigger picture than you realize or understand.” He is then questioned by Peter who did not understand the full meaning of what was happening. In John 13, Jesus humbled Himself and knelt to wash the feet of His disciples. Such moments demand a perspective which rests outside our humanity. We are overwhelmed when nothing seems to make sense and every path has no outlet. We are puzzled when our prayers are answered opposite of our desires. ![]() We are confused when our plans did not fall into place like we thought. There are few things as challenging to our faith as when life deals us a set of circumstances that leave us wondering what God is up to. Channel 10 News gives you the bigger picture." The ad finishes by saying, "You need the bigger picture. The man was not assaulting the woman he was rescuing her. Then the camera pulls back, and it can be seen that the car is actually on fire, but the woman was totally unaware. It looks as though he is attacking her, and you look on in amazement imagining the terror the woman must be experiencing. A word is never spoken as he rips the door open, grabs the woman by the arm, and pulls her roughly out of the car. She is casually minding her own business when a man comes out of the blue and approaches her car in a frenzy of haste. This was perfectly illustrated a few years ago on an advertisement for a northern TV station that started out like this: There was a woman sitting in a car. There is an old saying that goes something like this “Don’t believe everything you hear, and only half of what you see.” It is an idiom that serves as a reminder that perception can be misleading as things are not always as they might appear. ![]()
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