PRAYER PROMPT ••• If your view through a camera is always dark, it’s doesn’t mean the view isn’t beautiful.
It means you’re looking through a camera with the cap on.
Similarly, if we try to take a picture with a telephoto lens, we’re never going to capture the panoramic vista before us.
When we focus on why God allows bad things to happen, we’ve either got the cap on, or the wrong lens on the camera.
God’s ways aren’t our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).
And life isn’t fair.
In Ecclesiastes 9:11b, it says, “The fastest runner doesn’t always win the race, and the strongest warrior doesn’t always win the battle. The wise sometimes go hungry, and the skillful are not necessarily wealthy. And those who are educated don’t always lead successful lives.”
No one is promised a win.
Maybe our loss teaches us humility and emphasizes our need for God.
Maybe our experiences are meant to be a life lesson for someone else, and help lead them to God.
Whatever the reasons for our successes or losses, God knows.
We also have to accept some ownership.
God gave us both commandments and free will.
If we exercise our free will against what He commands, we have to be prepared for the consequences of our choices.
Though God forgives us when we ask, that doesn’t mean the side effects of our choices disappear.
But we can be assured of this: God has a plan.
There’s a picture so much bigger than what you or I can see.
Those who have accepted Christ know from Romans 8:28b, “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
And we know that if we lose, or suffer hardships, God’s not finished with us.
Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
Today, as you pray, ask God to help you take the cap off the lens and look at situations through His eyes.
Ask Him to help you see the bigger picture.
Though we may not understand His ways, ask Him to help us trust His plan.
It is good, and designed to bring us closer to Him and through Him, abundant, eternal life in heaven.
2 Responses
I love that…looking through the camera with the lens cap on. How many times have I done that? More than I can count. What a perfect analogy for the way we see the world and life as well (or as 1 Corinthians 13 says, “through a glass darkly.” Excellent post, Denise!
Thank you, Lynn!!!