How do you live in a world that is out of control?
How do we live with a God who doesn't always make sense, work on our timelines, or "behave" the way we want Him to?
Over the next four days, we will look at four "truths" on which to stand when it appears that life is falling apart. The Bible is full of promises that can keep us looking to Him, even in the midst of pain and brokenness.
In the last post, we read the poetry in the Bible that starts with "For everything, there is a season..." We see that there is life, but there is also death. There is gain, but there is also loss. There is laughter, but some days, there are also many, many tears.
"He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from beginning to end."
We were made for more than this. We were made for a life of joy, peace, and laughter, and even in the brokenness around us, we sense that there must be something more...eternity is waiting. And someday, those of us who have decided to follow Jesus will understand...when Jesus wipes every tear from our eyes.
But what about now? What about until that day?
He has made everything appropriate in its time. I like that reminder.
There are no coincidences.
Or as other translations say, God has made everything beautiful in its time. Everything.
We may not understand what He's doing -- and there will be many, many times we will not understand what He is doing behind the scenes -- but what this verse reminds me is that nothing is happenstance with God Almighty because above all:
He is wise, and even bad things have a purpose.
He makes everything beautiful in its time. When an appointed "bad" thing occurs, it may not seem to have any purpose whatsoever, but God sees it from a different perspective.
I absolutely love this story from a pastor in Texas:
"I was teaching in our church and had asked Norma, a wonderful pianist, if she would play for the congregation. I asked her to play "Jesus Love Me" using only the simple white keys. When she played, it had a very simple sound. Frankly, it wasn't interesting.
Next I asked her to play it using as many black keys as she wanted. If you've ever played a piano, you know that by themselves the black keys don't sound very good. That's where all the sharps and flats are. But when Norma played "Jesus Love Me" and included the black keys, it created a lush, beautiful sound. I asked my congregation to vote on whether they liked it with the white keys only or with the black keys added in. Without a doubt, the song sounds better with the black keys.
Life is just like a song played on the piano. It is a caricature without the black keys. It's not heroic without sin, evil, and pain. You don't know how to appreciate the heroism, love, and patience of God until evil enters the world.
The parts of our lives that don't feel right at the time are woven together by God to form a beautiful tapestry. God's plan is wise--its just that He doesn't ask you and me for our opinions. There is no suggestion box in the tabernacle. We have to just trust Him."
We don't understand much. We don't know where the corners of the universe are, or how to make it rain in a desert, or the number of grains of sand on a beach, or how to send a lightning bolt on its way. God does.
God knows far more than you and I will ever know, and His plans are greater than you or I can even imagine.
Believing that God is wise is the only thing that will sustain you when He plays your life on the black keys. And when He does, keep looking to Him and trusting Him...there is some real beauty in the making. Just hold on.
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