Too Close to See

 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

—Isaiah 55:8-9

We arrived very late to the movie theater and peered into the main room and found it crowded with hardly an empty seat. At last, in the dark, we stumbled on two seats together in the very front row. This newest blockbuster of a movie, Superman, portrayed a hero who was bigger than life—but no one saw him any bigger than we did! We were sitting so close that it became overwhelming. We could not see the whole screen at one time without turning our heads.

Sometimes, looking at fine works of art reminds me of that experience. If we stand too close, we may see a rich color, but we don’t see the full mosaic until we step back—way back.

Living through this COVID-19 Pandemic seems a bit like standing too close to a mosaic picture. We live every day and we begin to think that we see a beautiful color in life we’ve never observed before: maybe more time to spend with family, or more time to spend on a new hobby, or more time to pray, or more time to observe a new beauty in nature. But in these confusing days, even when we resort to doing all we can—and even when we see some promising signs that it might actually become resolved—we have no idea of the whole picture.

What if God is preparing for us a beautiful mosaic door through which He wants us to walk when this is over? We may see it as a glorious wall, but not realize it will open and present to us a new aspect of His will for our lives, or a new chapter in the life of the Church in this world. His thoughts are higher than ours. And, His thoughts always take in the whole picture.

When Ruth gave birth to her son Obed, did she have any idea that this beautiful gift to her and Boaz would become the grandfather of King David in the line of Christ, the Messiah? Of course not. God never shared that secret with her. From her vantage point, she only saw a small part of the whole story that God would unfold.

We never know what God plans. Even so, He wants for us to remain vigilant and faithful to Him, taking one day at a time until we make it through the long days of waiting for this COVID-19 Pandemic to be over.

We need to praise Him for the new doors He has already arranged to open for us. We need to thank Him for the new vistas He will allow us to eventually see. We need to determinedly trust Him to provide the very best for us, even though we don’t yet see the full picture.