“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”
1 Corinthians 13:12 (RSV)
As people of faith, each of us can recall a time that God manifested His presence in our life, through a prayer that was answered or an urgent need that was met just in time.
While we always rejoice in answered prayers, “some time later,” a life altering event can happen, which seems to cause everything to come to a halt.
There was a widow living in poverty in an Old Testament story, who, out of her scarcity, gave food and lodging to the great prophet, Elijah. He blessed her with the gift of continually filled jars of flour and oil. That miraculous provision sustained her and her only son during the years of a famine, but some time later, an unthinkable event happened. Her young son became seriously ill, then he stopped breathing and died suddenly. All the blessings in her life were suddenly overshadowed by the tragedy of losing her only son.
At first the widow thought she was being punished for some guilt or sin of her own. Despite her self inflicted guilt, Elijah never attributed any guilt as the cause. Instead, he knelt down, prayed for the boy and raised him back to life, and the story ended with the joy of her son being resurrected.
It all happened “Some time later.” That phrase is one that any one of us can relate to, because there is a “some time later” in all of our lives. It could be any kind of sudden, difficult life changing event, like the loss of our loved one, a divorce, a friend’s betrayal, loss of a job, loss of a home, or a serious medical diagnosis for ourselves or our loved one.
The first time my family and I experienced a “some time later” event, was when my oldest brother, an Air Force instructor pilot, died suddenly in his F-16 jet that crashed on a routine training mission, when he was 35 years old. There are no words to describe receiving such devastating news in a phone call and we will never know on this side of living, why some lives are cut so short.
One thing we can be assured of, is that Jesus is with us through both the joyful and the sorrowful times in our lives. He promised that He will be with us to the end, and never leave or forsake us, even when the unexpected happens.
(Matthew 28:20)
We try to draw conclusions of why God allowed some crushing event to happen in our lives, but since we cannot see the full picture, there is no conclusion to draw from. There’s so much that hasn’t been revealed to us here and now, so we cannot fully interpret why tragic losses occur, without seeing the whole picture.
Today’s scripture describes how we are currently seeing through a glass, only part of the picture. One day we will learn how God was working through every circumstance in our lives, to bring us closer to Him, and turn our pain into purpose.
I also had a less serious but real life example about coming to wrong conclusions without seeing the whole picture. I once ordered custom postcards using an original piece of artwork that I did, and the postcards arrived in a clear shrink wrap. I could see the artwork under the plastic shrink wrap, but it was only a fifth of the size that I ordered. I was sure that they printed the artwork in the wrong size and I immediately planned to return the order, without opening the package to examine it.
For some reason, I decided to open the shrink wrap to look more closely at the wrongly printed order. When I removed the plastic wrapping, I realized that the puny image I was looking at, was only a cover sheet and beneath it were 50 post cards, printed in the correct size and clarity which I ordered. I realized that I misjudged the whole product based on a cover sheet.
We are all currently looking through a plastic wrapped cover sheet of God’s design for our lives, which has not been fully revealed to us. We are not going to see everything clearly until the day we see Jesus face to face. On that day, some time later, we will understand and see the whole picture, having the answers to our questions.
Just seeing Jesus face to face will be so amazing that His face alone will most likely overwhelm our need for answers, but for now, He promises to be with us to the end, while giving us comfort, healing and strength. He can resurrect us out of a grave of sorrow, and fill us with joy in the morning, as He wipes away all our tears with His love.
Lord, comfort us with your peace, knowing that we currently don’t see the whole picture as you do, and help us to keep trusting in you, until that day when we will see all things clearly. Amen
