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There’s a picture in our bathroom that delights in hanging crookedly. I go in and straighten it and it’s perfect for a few hours then I suddenly notice it’s tipping to the side again. I find it irritating. I want it to be straight as it offends my sense of symmetry if it is wonky. It’s harder to view the landscape it depicts, when it’s at an angle too.
As I straightened it yet again, I felt the Lord was drawing my attention to my feelings of frustration and irritation. Life can be a bit like that picture and is so for Marilyn and I at present. We thought we had a clear vision of what was ahead, but the path keeps taking an unexpected turn with potentially life changing issues. Suddenly, the vista we thought we were viewing is hanging at an angle and it’s hard to see clearly. As I reflected I realised I wanted the t’s crossed and the i’s dotted in my life, but is life ever that straightforward?
I sensed the Lord whispering in my heart for all of us who feel we are floundering:
‘I am the One who is your security, your rock and your sure path. Put your faith in me, not in all the angles of your life hanging symmetrically. I will guide you and lead you into your future and your certain hope in me. Rest in me and let my joy fill you with new strength.’
I felt those words and reminders from Scripture were so encouraging and realised that if everything were always clear in our paths there would be no room for growing in faith. There will however be a time when we will see everything clearly and when every piece in the puzzle will fall into place, as Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 13:12 ‘For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.’
It is a wonderful hope to take deep inside our hearts that one day we will be face to face with the Lord and will then at last see everything clearly. How beyond awesome that moment will be! And we can hang onto the hope of that in those times when things seem more uncertain and the way ahead is unclear.
It’s a wonderful comfort too to realise that I am fully known by God. I don’t always know what is best for myself and I can’t see into my future. But he knows and loves me and all of us completely. Let’s put our faith and trust in him to lead us through whatever path we are on and enable us to experience his glory and love at every moment, until that day dawns when we will live in a whole new heavenly dimension.
Marilyn sings in her song 'What a Great Day'
'O what a great day that will be, living in perfectharmony with our God so close by our side, and knowing, we’ll be evermore with him.' © Marilyn Baker.
Prayer May his joy fill and strengthen you as you put your trust in him on those days when your picture is wonky and you cannot quite see the way ahead. Amen.
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