Perspective

Haley, our little stripey cat, watched in fascination as The Lovely Joanne swept the kitchen floor.  The motion of the broom against the floor seemed to hold Haley's attention, but I wouldn't bet two cents on her understanding the process.  And when the vacuum cleaner started up, she headed for the hills in fear!

Sometimes life seems that way, doesn't it?  Things go on around us that are impossible to understand, or that frighten us.  We aren't the first ones to see that, though.  The writers of the Bible expressed some of the same sense of mystery with God's working.  In a fascinating passage about God's offer of grace, Isaiah expressed the thoughts of the LORD in 55:9 by saying "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."  David expressed in Psalm 139 how much greater God's thoughts and power are than humanity's.  Our ability to comprehend God's eternal purposes, his absolute wisdom and the intricacy of how he works in human affairs, is narrowed by our own limited perspective.

My life has been like that.  My mother died when I was 19, and because she still had two young daughters at home, I was sure God would heal her of cancer and keep her around.  He didn't, and I miss her to this day.  But life has gone on; my stepmom is a wonderful woman who has been a great life partner for my dad, and I've learned to thank God she is around.  Twenty years ago, my denomination started a radical re-thinking of all our teachings, leading to throwing out a large number of un-biblical ideas and embracing what we once called error.  It frightened and unsettled me, and many of my friends headed for the hills when it happened -- some I have not been able to contact since.  It has taken me all this time to begin to understand the true splendor of the perspective we have now, and that I am privileged to pass on to others.  I am awed daily by the beauty of God's grace, whereas 25 years ago, I was sure 'grace' was just an excuse for those who didn't try hard enough to obey God. 

It's been a tough journey, and there were some days I didn't want to go on.  I still don't know why God allowed some of it to happen the way it did, and at the time I doubted I ever would come out of it at all, let alone have anything to be glad or thankful for. In 1 Peter 1:6-8 we're told, in part, "There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while." I'm learning, gradually, to trust that promise even when the joy isn't clear yet. 

Isaiah, in 64:7-9 writes "we are the clay, you are the potter" as a reminder of how much greater God's purpose is than we, mere clay by comparison, could understand.  Likewise, Haley has no more chance of understanding The Noisy Vacuum Monster than I do of truly knowing what God is doing. But when these difficult things happen in my life, I pray I can hold on until the pain eases and I can breathe again, and that I will get another glimpse of the love and glory and wisdom of God somewhere along the way. 

I pray the same for you.