trusting God

The Puzzle of Prayer

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Genesis 50:19-20

While I was out on my Saturday morning walk, I stopped at a neighborhood yard-sale. Usually I try to avoid picking up other people’s junk (or treasure) but I was intrigued by a 1,000 piece puzzle that reminded me a bit of a Thomas Kincaid painting. After returning home with it, I carefully taped together a cardboard piece big enough so I could move the puzzle around and then excitedly dumped out the pieces. First I assembled

20190401_062321_Film4.jpgthe edges and then grouped the rest of the pieces by color. But as I worked I discovered that I had a serious problem. The puzzle pieces were not from the puzzle displayed on the box! 

 Joseph’s life must have seemed a lot like my puzzle. His dreams of greatness and success must have seemed far off during his years of slavery and jail. Have you ever felt that way? My own hopes and dreams; like the photo on the box-top are decidedly different from the jumble of the pieces of my life. Some days or even years it feels as if nothing fits together no matter how hard I try.

But rather than give up I determined to find out just what kind of picture I would see if I kept at it. So as I worked piece by piece I began to see a cottage very different from the one on the box and yet still breathtaking in its complexity and beauty.

That is how the Christian life is. Our puzzle box dilemma is not an accident. On the outside things are never as they appear. God has chosen for us to walk by faith just like Joseph. When we trust God no matter what we see; it frees us from the tyranny of  expectations; both our own and those of others. Faith frees us to forgive and then live in confidence that whatever the final picture looks like; it has been designed by God. As we trust Him to fit together the pieces we will little by little begin to see and a perfect reflection of His love for us all!

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When will we get home?

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He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8

“When are we getting home?” the kids used to pester their mother and I from the back seat of our car many years ago. Whether it was one hour or one day, no matter how many times we explained,  they never seemed to be able to just relax. In much the same way the disciples of Jesus who had just finished a three and a half year apprenticeship and a forty day journey of stress, sorrow and then joy wanted to know when they would  get to the end of their journey. They could have picked up a lesson from the prophet Jeremiah who looking at all the disasters around him in Jerusalem probably wondered the same thing himself. How gracious of our God to come to us, and not to just yell into the back seat, “Just sit down and be quiet!”. God knows the depths of our anxious thoughts and He comes to give us the blessed and healing assurance. that He knows not only the end of the journey but also all the stops along the way! Some days I really need to remind myself of the words of this song – “Now I’m riding in the back seat, and I find that that’s the very place to be. Now I’m riding in the back seat. And I’m leaving all the driving to the chief!”

 

 

 

Contentment

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But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 1 Timothy 6:6-7

Every commercial we see on our television screen has the goal in mind of causing us to become discontent until – we buy their product. Though we may not have worried much about, the style of our clothing, the brand of our car, or how comfortable our pillow is, marketing firms are out to change that in 30 seconds. Watching five minutes of advertisements might be enough to keep us up half the night wondering if our neighbors have noticed that the white shirts our kids wore to school yesterday were a little grey!

Madeline in Easter Dress

But having all the resources of this world at our fingertips will never make us content. No pile of money is high enough to assure a happy retirement. No detergent, toothpaste, car or dating service will ever deliver on the promise of real contentment. At the beginning when God created Adam and Eve they were content. They had neither clothing, transportation, nor possessions, and yet they walked in the cool of the day with God. Their only goals were to care for the garden and to obey God.  As we fold up the weeks and months of this past year and put them away in our memories why not end this year with contentment? Not everything has gone our way. Not every bill has been paid, every obstacle overcome. Yet Jesus offers to walk side with us from this year to next. Whatever we have, or whatever we go through He promises always to be with us. What unimaginable wealth to simply know that I am His and for all eternity He is mine!