Carol J German

Is life bullying you? Do you feel like your circumstances are tossing you around? Have you asked God for some help and all you get is silence? Are you wondering where God is when you keep up with current events? The way the world is going is so dismal. We all would agree, life is hard, unpredictable and we can be thrown a curve ball at any moment. So, what are we to do when we look to God for answers and He either remains silent or He answers us in ways that are counterintuitive to our own reasoning?

We all would agree, God likes to stretch the faith of His children! One would think that God finds humor in our struggles as He watches the hair on the back of our necks stand straight up or we tense up in frustration when what we thought would happen doesn’t.

My daughter and I started a puzzle. While putting it together, I was reminded of how dumb I was buying it. It is a hard one. We need to study the picture on the box to find where pieces should go. It has been quite frustrating, to say the least, but when we go piece by piece the picture emerges and we see how each piece fits together.

Did you know before the world even was formed, you and I were on God’s mind? Stop and think about that. He had our lives planned out before any human walked on this earth. Somehow, God orchestrates over six billion plus people, with their own destinies, to come together for His glory! And we fret over our little pieces of life when they don’t make sense. Oh, what feeble, little faith we have!

We can liken a jigsaw puzzle to how God interacts with us. He gives us a span of time, boot camp training for heaven, to discover His love. When we are born, our box of pieces gets dumped out and we are to day-by-day, put our pieces together. We start out having help from others but as we grow into adulthood we put pieces together ourselves. God’s plan is, at some point in our maturity, we realize that we are not meant to journey alone. We need God. We are made for Him, by Him and our lives are to represent His love. And His love is His Son Jesus Christ. Our lives are to showcase Him.

The puzzle companies know that we need a picture to follow or else the pieces within the box would be very difficult to put together. God gives us a picture to follow too. It is the Bible. As we sit in front of our lives with the puzzle pieces that God has given us for that day, we are to be studying the picture on the box or God’s Word for guidance, clarity and understanding.

Right now, I am facing a trying time. I want to give up hope. I am quickly finding that living without hope gives me anxiety attacks. Thankfully, I have learned in my faith walk that (1) God never leaves me, (2) God always hears me, (3) God always guides me and (4) His love and faithfulness always envelop me. I know for certain of these truths. How have I come to know this? God has proven Himself through His Word. Just this morning I read Romans 5:1-11. In verse 5, God encouraged me with “this hope will not lead to disappointment”. Boom! You go God! His timing is perfect, every single time.

As time marches on, our puzzle becomes more clearer. The picture becomes more evident and we gain understanding of who God is and who we are. We realize that God has our back and there is a purpose for each circumstance we live with, for each trial that removes the rug from beneath our feet or for all those questions we ponder.

Questioning is good. We all question the authenticity of God. We test the waters of this world and question who is right and why things are deemed wrong. There are simple questions, moral questions, religious ones, political ones and everything in between. Questioning causes us to examine things. What is important to know is how we question things. According to the Bible, the book that is found to be without error, on our own we are incapable. Look up John 15:5, Proverbs 3:5-6, Psalm 124:7-8, Psalm 40:17. We are to question with God and His Word. There, God will lead us to understanding and He will give us clarity.

God’s Word is our stabilizer, our sure-footing for the path that God has called us to. No matter what you are facing, God is with you. He is actively working on your behalf. He may be wooing you to fall in love with Him for the first time. He may have placed you in an undesirable setting to grow you and prepare you for what lies ahead. He may simply want you to look up for His heart is sad. You have fallen in love with someone or something instead of Him. He is a jealous God, see Exodus 20:5.

Whatever your puzzle looks like, know that God has His hand upon you. No matter how many pieces are strewn about and not making sense, God has a purpose. Our puzzles will not be complete until He takes us home, then we will be able to see the whole picture. Until then, continue seeking, growing, learning about the greatest love story ever told. That my friend, is Jesus and you, Jesus and me! Let’s be a people united in love and encourage those around us to keep working on their puzzles. God is laying out some amazing stories of redemption!