04 May What God Still Hides

I had a life-changing moment when I was somewhere between 10 and 12 years old. My parents got me a microscope as a birthday present. The instruction manual suggested scooping up some swamp or stream water and putting a drop on the slide. Living on a farm, that was an easy find. So, I went to a swampy field with a mayonnaise jar and scooped up some water and put a drop on a slide. I put my eye to the microscope and my life changed. The hidden world of microbes was only made known with the development of the microscope.

I already understood there was life I couldn’t see with my naked eye. But I was unprepared to be introduced to an entirely new universe of life. That single drop of water was teeming with countless life forms. I believe the microscope came with a booklet that helped me identify many of them. Years later, I had a similar epiphany.

I was flying to California, and I saw the Rocky Mountains from about 20,000 feet. It occurred to me that such a view was unseen for century after century, until commercial aircraft allowed millions to see it. It has been seeable for less than a century. There is a powerful God lesson in all this: God allows us to see only what He wants us to see and when He wants us to see it.  

8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “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 (NIV)

Because God blesses us with glimpses of His plan, we can sometimes convince ourselves that we know the whole plan. Isaiah 55:8-9 reminds us that we cannot possibly know what God is thinking; it is beyond our extremely limited ability to do so. He also reminds us that we don’t have to know or understand all that He knows:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

God knows what we can handle and when we can handle it. If you are waiting for a breakthrough or for clarity from God for you or someone else, be encouraged that even though you can’t see the whole picture God can. You don’t have to guess what the picture puzzle looks like with pieces missing. In His time, He will show you for your good and His glory.

Pastor Jerry Bader