An engineer was walking through a construction site and stopped a laborer and asked him what he was doing. He said, “I’m moving these boards from this pile to that pile over there.”
A little further on, he saw a saw a mason and asked him what he was doing. The mason replied, “I’m getting ready to pour some concrete.”
Then he came upon a carpenter who was building a frame for the concrete to be poured into, and he asked him the same thing. But the carpenter replied, “I’m building a cathedral where thousands of voices will sing the praises of God.”
The carpenter had a greater vision than the other two workmen. He could see beyond the here and now.
In John 9, we see Jesus and the boys talking about a man born blind. The disciples asked Jesus who had sinned, the man or his parents. Jesus answered that neither of those things caused his blindness, but that it happened so the works of God might be displayed in him.
Perhaps there is something in your life that has you wondering why it happened. Without looking at our circumstances through the lens of what we know about God, it would be easy to despair.
But when we look through the lens of God’s love and His goodness, that He is always for us, that He always has a plan and is faithful, then we can look beyond the here and now, and see that this is not all there is.
The building site did not look at all like a spectacular cathedral, and your life may not look very spectacular, either. But somehow, in ways that we may never understand, all that is happening is working together to bring glory to God.
That doesn’t mean that we should dance a jig in the face of adversity, or refuse to grieve loss, or laugh when people sin against us… But it does mean that as you face every trial in your life, you can walk in the calm assurance of knowing that this is not all there is.
What area of your life needs to be looked at through the “God lens?”
Sign up for our Virtual Bible Study, “Contagious Love,” to receive the audio teaching and handout, as well as the homework – or to get more information – Just click the link below:
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Tags: *Kim Avery, I John
