Snapshots

One of the great difficulties of life, one of the factors that sorely tests our faith, is that we live a life of snapshots. All we usually see is the little picture. We see the disappointment of the moment when something goes awry. We see the heartbreak of the moment when someone we love is injured, ill, or emotionally hurt. We experience the loss of someone we love and must go on despite the empty place in our life that can never be filled. We walk the road of loneliness and can feel the darkness. All these moments, all these snapshots of moments of our life, are all we can see; they dominate our thoughts and overwhelm us. We keep asking "Where is the God of love in the moment of sorrow, of disappointment, of loss?" He is there. The advantage He has is that He sees the big picture, the masterpiece, the good He has prepared for us. He sees all the momentary snapshots put together into one delightful portrait of a life that has glorified Him and worked good for His people. What we must do is trust Him. What we must do is walk by faith.
Like Abraham we must sojourn in the land, living in our tents, our eyes focused on the heavenly city, on home. Like Moses we must lead the hard-hearted through the wilderness letting God use us to lovingly meet their needs so that their children will see and trust in the faithfulness of God and become a faithful generation, warriors of the faith. Like David we must be broken-hearted when the finger of God's prophetic word tells us, "You are the man" so that we can seek and find His forgiveness and the joy that will sustain us in the midst of the consequences sure to come. Like Mary we must endure the criticism of those who see no goodness in our quiet devotion to Him so that we can learn at His feet, weep at His feet in times of loss, and pour out our devotion to Him worshipfully at His loving feet. Like Paul we must endure the suffering of the moment, the beatings, the shipwrecks, the departure of our Demas, the attacks on our authority, the misrepresentation of our correcting love so that we can know the fellowship of His suffering and be made conformable to His death and life.
He has promised that when all is said and done, when everything has worked together, when all the snapshots of our life are all placed in the framework of His will, the picture will be beautiful, a masterpiece entitled "God's Delight." And in the center of the "workmanship," the apple of His eye, will be you because by faith you have seen His unseen hand at work and trusted in His love.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God."