Pastor Tony Evans has a famous quote that says, “If all you see is what you see, you will never see all that there is to be seen”.
At any given moment, it’s hard to see how God is working in our lives. This is especially true when we’re going through a trial or God is taking us through unknown territory. Seeing the big picture is hard.
We know, through our study of the Word of God, that He always has sight of the big picture. Heck, He created the big picture. Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”.
1 Corinthians 2:9 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
All of those verses, plus many more, let us know that God sees the Big Picture in each one of our lives. We say that we know He sees the big, we understand He does, and when we say it we mean it, but when we are in the midst of a transition or trial, it’s hard to recognize it and fathom it.
Can you think of a time when you were going through a storm and while you were in it you thought you weren’t going to make it or you couldn’t see the good that would come from it, but now years later looking back you see how that storm made you a better person or created things in your life that would not have been, had it not been for that storm? I can truly speak from experience on this point. Four years ago, my mother died. To know how devastating this was for me, you must know how extremely close we were. She was my BFF. We even lived together. We spent so much time together when we lived apart that I suggested to her that it was foolish of us to pay two mortgages when we could live together with just one. So when I say I was devastated, I was devastated. But today, four years later, I look back on her death with sorrow of course, but also with the knowledge that through her death I experienced tremendous spiritual growth. Where I am today, is a far cry from where I was back then. It wasn’t that I wasn’t a Christian and even a bible teacher, but I see how God has used my mother’s death to grow me in ways that I never would have imagined.
The first step in knowing that God sees the big picture is to acknowledge that all of our stories are part of a bigger picture yet to be seen. In our world today, people don’t want to see the big picture. They say there is no big picture, but just little snapshots in time that don’t really add up to much. There is no belief in a higher being, heaven, or hell. Many people believe that once you leave this place, that’s it. There is no need to have a big picture because the big picture leads to nothing. What a sobering thought. No wonder so many people are depressed and dismayed. If I believed that this is all there is to my existence, I guess I’d be depressed too. Thanks be to God, that I know better.
Did you know that the bible is one big story? As a child, I learned all about the stories in the Old Testament, but I never knew that from the fall of man to Revelation, the Bible was written to display God’s purpose of bringing everything to a climax in Jesus Christ. Lately, I’ve been studying the book of Zechariah. Did you know that although it was written 500 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, it foretells the coming of the Messiah and in great detail about His second coming? It is packed with symbolism and some hard-to-understand passages, but the predictions about the return of Christ are crystal clear.
The little pictures of our lives, just like those of Abraham, David, and Sarah, fit perfectly into the vast landscape God is painting. To see it we need a vision readjustment. Or, as Paul would say, we need the eyes of your understanding enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints(Ephesians1:18).
To see with the eyes of our hearts then takes more than a new set of spiritual bifocals; it takes an inner transformation brought about by the Holy Spirit.
When looking at the Big Picture, we need to hold On To These Three Things: faith, hope, and love.
Faith — taking God at his Word. Even when our circumstances scream otherwise, we need to take it on faith that there is a bigger picture. Isaiah 55:8 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord”. We must have faith that the way God is working in our lives, is for our good.
Secondly, we need to hold on to Hope —We must believe that God knows what He is doing. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end”. This hope keeps us from despair and allows us to live in anticipation of that day when Christ will return in glory.
Lastly, we need to hold on to Love — We need to know that God loves us more than anyone has ever loved us and even more than we could ever love ourselves. How do I know that He loves us? Because He sent His son to die as a sacrifice for our sins. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.
Knowing that God sees the big picture and that through the good as well as the bad times, he is transforming us, fills me with peace. How about you? Through this transformation, our eyes are opened to Satan’s schemes that tell us there is nothing after this life therefore this life is not worth living. The devil is a liar! I’m going to live believing that God sees the big picture of this life and the life beyond and that He has destined things for me that I can’t even imagine. He did it for you too. He sees where you are and what you’re going through. Hold on my sister. God won’t let you fall.
I liken this journey of life to dreams of falling. Have you ever had that dream where you were falling and you woke up before you hit the ground? I figure that’s how life with the Lord is. You may stumble and you may have a cessation of falling, but He will never let you hit the ground.
So, let’s dare to imagine. Let’s dare to take our eyes off our circumstances and focus them on the bigger picture God has for us in Christ Jesus.
