Behind the scenes

Do you ever feel like God is not paying attention? We are asking for things and nothing is happening. If you reading this, it means you are alive, so you probably have. Read on for a lesson from my past.

Behind the Scene

My ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8

In high school, I had the chance to be in some plays. From the audience everything looks calm and smooth. Actors enter and exit flawlessly and the scenery is changed at the appropriate time. From the other side of the curtain, though, it is a completely different picture. Tech people are bringing lights up and down. Make up is being touched up, and costumes are being changed. When the curtain goes down, prop managers scurry on and off stage. The props and scenery from one scene are often completely different from the one before. Places may be marked with glow in the dark tape. Think of the hours of practice that have taken place beforehand, with movements mapped out and practiced.

Can you imagine an actor making an entrance onto a dark or semi-dark stage? He has made the entrance dozens of times before, but this time something is different. The prop manager did not get a piece of scenery off the stage from the previous scene. It happens to be right in the way and the actor trips or even falls. The audience gasps, or maybe snickers.

There was a time recently when I was waiting for something from God. I was doing everything I was supposed to do. I had confessed every sin I ever thought about committing, fearing that the reason I was not receiving what I was waiting for was because I was being punished. I begged. I pleaded. I cried. I got angry. I told God that He was not paying attention, and He apparently wasn't doing anything about my situation. Finally I got a picture of a scene backstage, with prop managers scurrying madly. God reminded me that He is in control, and that I would not want to make an entrance until the stage was set, because I did not want to fall over something.

I received what I was waiting for, and it has been fantastic. I see some of the things that were worked out, but I know there were many more that I will never see. I have no idea what God is doing when He appears to be doing nothing. We need to have faith, because God has seen the end from the beginning. Nothing surprises him and he is in control. Take courage as you wait for what you ask for. God is faithful.

LORD, Help us to remember that there are things we cannot see and that you will never leave us.

Creation

Welcome to Unseen today. When we live unseen we are tempted to focus on our flaws rather than the good things inside of us and others. Read on for a lesson from the sewing basket, of all places.
 

Creation

We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phillipians 1:6

Lately, in all my spare time, I have been doing counted cross-stitch again. It is relaxing  (much more so now that I have bifocals) and it is fun to see a picture emerge onto a blank canvas. There is a pattern to go by and directions. I have had to realize, though, that no matter how carefully I count and try to match colors, my design does not always look like the pattern. I have to adjust and let it be OK.I have discovered that as great as the front of the canvas looks, the back is usually a tangled, knotted mess. I can either get frustrated and stop, or I can understand that no one is going to turn my creation over and inspect it for flaws. In most patterns that I have done, the instructions say to use more than one strand. The floss is thin and would snap or tangle with just one piece. The one place where the instructions usually say to use one strand is with backstitching. This is a finishing step to add detail and contrast, and is typically done using dark colored thread.

Isn’t it fun to see God’s plan and glory emerge in our lives and the lives of those we love? God the Creator is still creating. He has given us a pattern to imitate in Jesus and directions to follow in the Bible. Just as I often miscount my stitches, I often step out of God’s plan and may miss what He intended. I do not look the pattern Je left me in Jesus. When I do He doesn’t crumple up the plan and leave me to my own devices. He leads me in a different direction and makes beauty out of my mess, using it for his Glory. One of my favorite scriptures is the story of Jeremiah in the potter’s house. The vessel was marred in the potter’s hand and he fashioned it into something new. God asks Jeremiah, “Cannot I not do the same with you, oh house of Israel?” (Jeremiah 18:1-7)

We know ourselves and our flaws, and are looking at the inside of our hearts, minds and souls, often comparing them to the outside of other people’s lives. We feel guilty and unworthy of God’s love and of being used by Him. God sees us, instead, through the filter of Jesus’ blood. For instance, if I am honest, today I am angry with God. We had prayed for healing for a friend and it is not looking like it will happen. I know all the pretty words about how death is the ultimate healing, and how God’s will is perfect, but I feel like God let us down. I look from inside and see the anger and doubt and think God must be really ashamed of me right now. He sees me through the blood and is honored by the fact that I showed up at church this week and sang praises even with my arms crossed and tears in my eyes. Which brings us to the point that we are not in this alone, and just as the floss is weak by itself, so we need each other to be strong. (Ecclesiastes 5:9, Galatians 6:2-5) I know that the times in my life that have been dark have outlined God’s grace and glory in my life. Joseph told his brothers when he revealed his identity, “you meant this for evil, but God has used it for good.(Genesis 48:1-12) Romans 8:28 tells us the same thing . I swore in the middle of those times that God had forgotten me and there was no way anything good could come out of this, but I know that he has been faithful.   

Like a picture emerging on a canvas, God is creating something in you. The best news, as we see in Phillipians 1:6 is that he is not done with his creation.  We are confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Look for his beauty in your life and in others.