Isaiah 55:9-11
Just as the heavens
are higher than the earth,
my thoughts and my ways
are higher than yours.
“Rain and snow fall from the sky.
But they don’t return
without watering the earth
that produces seeds to plant
and grain to eat.
That’s how it is with my words.
They don’t return to me
without doing everything
I send them to do.”
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
A
49-year-old realtor left her home in central Arkansas to meet a
potential client at a nearby-but-secluded riverfront property and was
never heard from again. Her body was retrieved four days later from a
shallow grave - at a location nearly 30 miles away from the house she
was showing. The person believed to have kidnapped and murdered her was
apprehended, and people began to ask, “Why did this happen?
“Why?”
seems to be the pervading question in many of life’s circumstances. Why
does God allow bad things to happen to good people? Why are young
mothers and fathers with little ones to rear and so many obligations
taken from this earth? Why do children get cancer and other illnesses?
Why are babies born with defects? Why are there wars, famines,
droughts and other natural disasters? Why can’t I find a job, friend,
mate – or my “place” in this world? When a deranged person is about to
behead another...or a demented adult is begins to abuse or molest a
child, why doesn’t God stop it? If God loves us SO much, why doesn’t He
make our lives more comfortable and fix all of these things?
Recently,
we hired a painter to do some work at our house. One of the projects
was to repaint the front door. He worked for several hours to make our
metal door to look as if it were made of wood. The painter remarked to
me that there were always moments in the process where everything looked
like a giant mess...but as he kept working at it, the end result came
into focus. I’ve done a few faux finish projects, and I shared with him
that I once purchased a wall sconce on clearance at a home decorating
store. Friends who were with me asked, “Why in the world would you want
that? What will you do with it?” I assured them that by the time I
finished my project, they would not recognize the original piece. And
just as this painter noted in his project, there were moments when I
thought, “This is the biggest mess...it will never look like anything!”
But I kept working...adding and removing...daubing here and patting
there...and the beauty of the piece began to come through. Before I
knew it, I the sconce looked just as I had envisioned – or even better!
And my friends could not believe it was the same ugly item I had
purchased.
I use these illustrations to show you that God has a
“vision” that we cannot comprehend. He can take what appears to be a
“total mess” and turn it into a masterpiece. Like the faux finishes,
there may be times when things look like they are in such a state that we
feel as if they are beyond repair. But God uses His strength and power
to create something beautiful...and His handiwork is fully displayed.
So
many people get bogged down in the question...“Why me, LORD?” Why
can’t we skip the “ugly” steps in the “faux finish” of life and go
straight to the pretty results? Surely we are missing something
here...but what? And that is the crux of this passage from Isaiah...”My
thoughts and my ways are higher than yours”. This is where we have to
truly exercise our faith as Christians. We have to step out and trust
that God has a perfect plan...and believe that even in the most heinous
of situations or our deepest grief and heartache, He will produce
something positive and beautiful.
Will we ever see the final
product – God’s “vision”? Yes...but maybe not in this lifetime.
Someday, we will understand all of this. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, Paul
assures us that “Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a
mirror. Later we will see him face to face. We don’t know everything,
but then we will, just as God completely understands us.” I have no clue
what God intended for this realtor and her family. It occurs to me that
at the very least, realtors everywhere may change how they show
property. They may become more cautious and/or meet clients in
pairs...particularly when the property is in a remote location.
I
know that in my own life, I have been kept from getting a job I wanted –
only to be granted a better one! Twenty-four-year-old Blessing Offor
took the stage on NBC’s “The Voice” and sang his way into the
competition. Judges were astonished to learn that Offor was born blind
in one eye, and an accident took his vision in the other eye before he
was eleven. He explained that “I had to figure out what God meant by
this”...adding, “This is just another thing to work through.”
We’ve
all got things to work through...and we won’t understand “what God
meant by this” much of the time. But we can be assured that nothing is
wasted. We can trust that God - our great provider, protector and
healer – is using the “rain” in our lives to “water seeds and produce
good fruit”. Our real question should not be “Why me, LORD?”...but
rather, “What are You showing me?” Shouldn’t we be asking God to reveal
to us how to accomplish His will with each and every circumstance of
our lives? Don’t you think it’s time we did?
©2014 Debbie Robus
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