Bigger Picture

Mon, 23 Mar 2020

‘A great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’ 1 Corinthians 16:9 NKJV Sometimes we can get so focused on the things going on in our lives right now, and the things that we’re going through, that we miss seeing the bigger picture. We get caught up in the details and the tough stuff, and we forget that this particular situation is just a part of our lives. It’s in those times that we need to step back and ask God to help us see the bigger picture.

Paul wrote, ‘A great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’ Opportunity and obstacles—they go together like macaroni and cheese or fish and chips. Now, Paul didn’t deny the reality of the opposition he faced; he just chose to focus on the opportunity it presented. We need to ask ourselves what we’re focused on. Are we looking at the troubles and forgetting that there are opportunities alongside them? Are we so focused on what’s happening that we forget that God will work it all together for good? In Romans 8:28 NCV it says: ‘We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him.’

It can be really challenging to remember the bigger picture when we can’t see it, or to accept that God will bring good out of the situation when we’re not sure how He can. That’s where faith comes in. The Bible tells us to ‘live by faith, not by sight.’ (2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV) And it says that God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (take a look at Isaiah 55:8–9). We’re not going to understand everything, but we have to trust that God knows what He’s doing, and that He will do what He has promised. We have to believe that all things in our lives, even the dark times, play a part in His bigger picture.

SoulFood: Job 15–17, Matt 24:36–51, Ps 55:1–11, Pro 8:17–18