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When I look at the various word pictures that God sets forth in his book I am reminded of the magnitude of God--how he is both powerful enough to carry out his purposes and completely committed to preserving me (and each of his people) through every trial and to bringing me blameless into the inheritance that he created for his people. A few such word pictures follow.
I see "bad" events in a different light when I see
that what is happening today is not the whole story. When I look
at the outlines of the whole plan in which I am a part I realize
that what is happening to me or around me today is part of a big
operation. The scope of God's thoughts and workings is awesome
because it is so far beyond comprehension. That which I see around
me or in my life is part of a drama which began a long, long,
time ago and extends to the end of the drama--to God's judgment
and into eternity. God's plan did not begin in my parents' generation
or at the time of the civil war or when America was discovered
by Columbus. It did not begin in Greece or in Rome or at the time
of the most ancient civilization anywhere in the world. It was
created by God before the foundation of the world--and
extends beyond earthly history. Jesus spoke of it when teaching
about the final judgment: "Then the King will say
to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world."
(Matthew 25:34)
In the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians those believers
and all other believers were told about what God has done for
believers: "He chose us in him [Christ]
before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--"
(Ephesians 1:4-5) How great is God's care
for his people: "God...who has saved
us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have
done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was
given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time."
(2 Timothy 1:9) No. The "Big
picture" began a long, long, time ago. My antics, my sufferings
are so small when seen in that perspective. "Surely
the nations are like a drop in a bucket," the Bible
says; "they are regarded as dust on the scales; he
[God] weighs the islands as though they were fine dust...
Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by
him as worthless and less than nothing." (Isaiah
40:15,17)
When I recall that there is more to God's plan than whether believers
are happy or in pain at this moment in time then I have
a kind of peace regardless of what is going in my life or around
me.
Another fact which "causes" the disastrous character
of pain and death-filled events occurring in my life or in the
world around me to diminish is the enormous size or scale of God's
plan. His plan involves--the reconciliation of all things--not
just me, and not just the human race. "For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him
[that is, Christ], and through
him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth
or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on
the cross." (Colossians 1:19-20)
After Christ accomplished his mission God "seated
him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule
and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be
given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
(Ephesians 1:20-21)
The apostle Paul declared: "We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time. / For the creation was subjected
to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the
one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious
freedom of the children of God. / The creation waits in eager
expectation for the sons of God to be revealed."
(Romans 8:22,20-21,19)
The prophet Isaiah foresaw and described an aspect of
the profound change that God was going to bring about in the world
we look upon as "natural": "'The wolf and
the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like
the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither
harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,' says
the LORD." (Isaiah 65:25)
What a difference it makes when I look at the context, when I
see what is happening as part of God's enormous undertaking!
The events in my life no longer seem so "earth-shaking"
or so overwhelming when I remember that nothing is outside of
God's plan. Neither "chance" nor death can thwart God's
purposes. There are no oversights, no unforeseen happenings. Nothing
just happens. Nothing happens "by" chance. Not just
some things, but everything --even death fits into the big project
that God created. Death is not an "invincible" part
of reality. It was the overcoming of death-condemnation for his
people [John 3:36; 5:24] that was the purpose of Christ's mission.
That was the object. And the means of accomplishing that objective
was a death. The most significant event in all of human
history--Christ's death on the cross--was part of the big picture;
in fact, it was that death that was the cornerstone of God's plan.
Christ's death on the cross (the Roman's method of execution for
criminals) was no obstacle to the success of God's plan. Nor was
it a chance happening. It was not the end of a worthy plan of
God that didn't happen to work out. Just the opposite. It came
about exactly as God purposed that it would come about.
The Bible says so.
In Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus the apostle Peter
explained how the crucifixion fit into God's plan: "This
man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge;
and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing
him to the cross." (Acts 2:23) The
recognition of this fact about God's involvement in what happened
to Jesus is stated explicitly as part of the recorded prayer of
Jesus' disciples to the "Sovereign Lord,... Indeed
Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant
Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had
decided beforehand should happen."
(Acts 4:24,27-28) "Chance" is NOT something that
can threaten or thwart God plan as if it were an independent "force"
which God had to overcome; likewise men's sins, mens' machinations--which
are to be expected--can't alter the outcome or the timing of God's
plans.
When I look at the big picture I am reminded that not even "chance"
or death can interfere with or thwart God's plan for every believer.
Neither "chance" nor death can move any believer beyond
the watching eye of God or beyond his active care. My troubles
and those I see all around me are not so "bad" that
they can separate me (or any believer) from the care of God. In
the words of God's messenger (the apostle Paul): "For
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor
demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able
to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
When I "see" that God and what he desires to accomplish
is NOT affected by the desires of men, by "chance" or
by death those events that before I considered "bad"
no longer have that character.
How awesome God is. Not only is he so big that he plans and
brings about everything that he wills including a total alteration
in what we consider the immutable laws of "nature" but
he so big that at the same time his attention and care
extends to the smallest detail. For God nothing is too small to
be paid attention to. Every detail no matter how small or how
many of them there are is a concern to God. Especially is this
true of every believer for whom he sacrificed his Son. Especially
is this true of each "sheep" (John 10:15) for
whom Jesus
Christ laid down his life. Jesus gave encouragement to his disciples
by teaching them this fact about God's power and care.
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?"
he asked. "Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of
your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth
more than many sparrows." (Matthew
10:29-31) The God who had the power to create everything
that is is able to care for his own: [God] "is able
to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious
presence without fault and with great joy--"
(Jude 24) God is not concerned just with
great movements or masses of people. He has a special care for
each believer--for each of his lambs. "For my Father's
will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes
in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." (John 6:40) In
another place in the New Testament Jesus encouraged believers
with this teaching about his power to preserve them: "My
sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I
give them eternal life...no one can snatch them out of
my hand." (John 10:29)
When I listen to what God says about himself' how small those
events in my life or that I see around me seem. God says: "I
make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what
is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do
all that I please." (Isaiah 46:10) "...
What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned,
that will I do." (Isaiah 46:11)
"Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No-one
can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?"
(Isaiah 43:13) In the Bible I hear hints
about the "size" of God--the maker of the total drama.
"In the beginning you laid the foundations of the
earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." (Psalms 102:25; quoted in the New Testament-Heb.1:10)
Think about who/what the Lord is: "The LORD works
out everything for his own ends--even the wicked for a day of
disaster." (Proverbs 16:4)
"The plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes
of his heart through all generations." (Psalms
33:11) "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by
one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and
mighty strength, not one of them is missing."
(Isaiah 40:26) "The
heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a
garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But [says
the Lord] my salvation will last for ever, my righteousness
will never fail." (Isaiah 51:6)
"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing.
He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples
of the earth. No-one can hold back his hand or say to him: "'What
have you done?'" (Daniel 4:35)
In the New Testament the power or magnitude of Jesus the Christ
is described in the same awesome terms. "For by him
all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible
and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;
all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together." (Colossians
1:16-17) And again, "In these last days he
has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things,
and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance
of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining
all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification
for sins [a reference to Christ's work on the cross], he
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."
(Hebrews 1:2) "In him
[Christ] we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose of his will." (Ephesians 1:11)
That one "mind" could be so big, so powerful
as to create and control the whole universe and at the same time
take care of every single one of his own people is awesome. It
is more than the human mind can conceive. The Lord says: "'For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,...As
the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" (Isaiah 55:8-9)
These words show me what God is like. They show how big the maker
of the whole picture is. The comparison shows me how "small"
my troubles are. When I look at the "size" of God I
realize that what is happening now (however painful or death-filled
it may be) is only the smallest part of everything that is going
on and of everything that God has purposed to take place. When
I am being pierced by excruciating pain or engulfed in horrible
or tragic events God does not suspend his plan. What is a nightmare
experience to me or in the life others does not put a wrench in
the plan of God any more than it affects the sun's capacity to
shine. The completion of God's plan on his schedule is certain.
For believers a glorious destiny is certain.
Not only is God's power and plan so "big" that it
includes all of creation--things both in heaven and on earth,
things now and in the age to come, but the very reason the plan
was created in the first place was to benefit believers. God,
as it were, set up a "trust fund" for those
individuals who would be the beneficiaries--those people who possessed
a particular qualification--that they were believers. Believers
are not just people who incidentally benefit from the death of
Christ on the cross the way, for example, school kids benefit
from a school having to close for repairs. Not at all. It was
for the benefit of believers that the death of Christ
on the Cross was designed. Jesus Christ laid down his life to
accomplish a very particular purpose. "Jesus Christ...gave
himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to
purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do
what is good." (Titus
2:14) "For Christ died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God."
(1Peter 3:18)
"Since the children have flesh and blood, he [Christ]
too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy
him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free
those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of
death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's
descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers
in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful
high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement
for the sins of the people." (Hebrews
2:14-17) And again, "He was chosen before
the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times
for your sake." (1 Peter 1:20)
There was a purpose to God's plan. One of the most quoted verses
in the Bible--John 3:16 says so: "For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
That big plan of God from the very beginning was designed around
a special provision for believers--that they would have
a most glorious destiny, that they would be heirs to an inheritance
beyond compare. It was to bring about this circumstance--that
believers would be qualified, that believers would be given eternal
life, that believers would be made permanent citizens
of heaven that God sent Christ to die on the cross. "He
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted
as his sons through Jesus Christ,..." (Ephesians
1:4-5) "He will swallow up
death for ever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from
all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all
the earth. The LORD has spoken." (Isaiah
25:8) Believers will enjoy the benefits that the citizens
of God's kingdom are entitled to: "He will wipe every
tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning
or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
(Revelation 21:4)
In the letter to the believers living in Ephesus God states a
fact about his plan and power: "In him [Christ]
we were also chosen, having been predestined according
to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity
with the purpose of his will." (Ephesians
1:11) That believers would be given, and come into, this
inheritance was the goal which was to be served by everything
else in God's plan. "Then the King will say to those
on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your
inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of
the world." (Matthew 25:34).
"Those he predestined, he also called; those
he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:30) What a BIG plan of God we are
part of!
Each of these descriptions of God and his works brings a strand
of the big picture to the fore. Look at the big picture. The Bible
commands me: "set your mind on the things above."
When it is hardest to heed this command (because tears are filling
my eyes, pain is burning me up, grief is breaking my heart...)--that
is when I am most in need of remembering that there is a big picture.
When I see my experiences and the events taking place around me
against the enormous backdrop of God's total reality
which extends from the remotest past into eternity then --as it
relates to believers-- everything that I experience or observe
around me takes on a different appearance; no less painful,
but no longer "bad." When God enlarges the picture I
assess "bad" events differently.
When I look at the "size" of God and the enormous content
of his plan all I can say is, Who am I to make the determination
that events are "bad"? Who am I to question the wisdom
of God or the adequacy of his care? The psalmist describes how
God looks out for his people: "Surely goodness and
love will follow me all the days of my life..."
(Psalm 23:6) Jesus, aware of what believers go through in this
world, said, "In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)
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