“For it is God
who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Phil.
2:13).
Have you ever had
the feeling you were being watched? Or maybe you’re discovering fascinating
coincidences in your life that intertwines it with others? Have you ever
thought that maybe there’s a bigger picture that we’re just not seeing?
Over the past
four months, several famous, and not so famous people have died. Many of whom
have played some part in our lives: actor John Mahoney, to the world-renowned
physicist Stephen Hawking, to Naomi Parker Fraley better known as the iconic
female World War II factory worker Rosie the Riveter, to actor and comedian
Jerry Van Dyke, to 33-year-old singer Seo Minwoo, to Rayya Elias (the lesbian partner
of author of the best-selling novel Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth
Gilbert), to the former rapper Craig Mack, to Billy Graham. While there are
vast differences in the lives that these people lived, there are still some
similarities. All of these individuals were blessed with the gift of life,
suffering in one shape or another, and God’s grace along the way to receive
Christ or reject Him.
The Bible records
numerous stories like these individuals who have impacted other’s lives in big
and small ways. However, the Bible makes it clear that every person’s life, and
all of history is a part of something bigger (Col. 1:16-17). It is all God’s
story. The Bible teaches that history is going someplace. It is all a part of God
seeking to fill the earth with people who would praise Him. Even those who
choose not to praise Him are still a part of His story. God orchestrates His
message of grace even in the lives of non-believers. God did this with the
pagan nations of Assyria and Babylon. Both of these nations were raised up to
purify God’s people.
God is at work in
your life’s story as well. I like how Paul Tripp
explained it. “Thankfully I am not the author of my own personal story. Your
story isn’t an autobiography either. Your story is a biography of wisdom and grace
written by Another. Every turn He writes into your story is right. Every twist
of the plot is for the best. Every new character or unexpected event is a tool
of His grace. Each new chapter advances His purpose” (New Morning Mercies).
God is ultimately
the author of the bigger picture. Thus, God is weaving your story together as a part of His
story throughout time. God wants to write your story is such a way that
ultimately leads you to being a part of the few who travel the narrow way to
life eternal (Matt. 7:13-14). And He wants you to help lead others down that
narrow road.
In the meantime,
He wants you to meet Him in all your appointments and disappointments of life.
“Every stage of the process may not look picturesque, but every detail will
come into focus and possess its share of beauty” (Ravi Zacharias, The Grad
Weaver, p. 31). So what if rather than trying to be the author of your own
life, you trust your life to the One who is writing your life’s story as a part
of His story? If you do, the Bible affirms that your story will end in the best
way possible (Phil. 1:6).
In His service,
Matt
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