Snapshot vs. Big Picture

Well, today I finished reading the entire Bible in a year for the thirtieth year. Sounds pretty spiritual doesn’t it? Not really. I’m a desperate man, desperately in need of a Savior, and desperate to hear from God on a daily basis. No matter what happens in life: to claim His promises, accept and learn from His chiding, be encouraged and comforted, be loved and love, and most of all live in the faith of affirmations that Jesus is sovereign and with me through it all. And through it all He is meeting my needs.

I’ve always been somewhat of a simple man; yet a spiritually needy (poor in spirit) and a fully human man with imperfections, shortsightedness, faults, regrets, bias’s, opinions, distrusts, wavering’s, emotional ups and downs, and one who is constantly fighting his own demons and often feeling defeated.

But one thing I do know and am learning is that God loves me as I am, not as I should be. If He did love me as I should be, that would be conditional love. I’m also learning to finally treat people the way I want to be treated…loving all without judgment. I’m understanding Jesus more and more when He said, “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17

2015 has been one of the hardest years of my life. Stripped of everything. Financial ruin. Family turmoil. Seasons of hopelessness and despair, loneliness and depression, physical anomalies, abnormal stresses and anxiety, humiliation, worry, and a term I coined…mind fog. Yet I hold on to Jesus. When I am naked before God, I come to the realization that I must clothe myself with the garment (the presence) of Jesus Christ. (Romans 13:14) And there is no better way to live in His presence than to be a student of His Word (in prayer and meditation), and allow it to do its work in my being and through my lifestyle.

THE SNAPSHOT

Early in November, I read an interesting passage from the book of Job. Now I’m not saying I am anywhere near the man of God that Job was, but suffice it to say, on many levels I can relate.

Job 6:8-13 “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my desire.  I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.  At least I can take comfort in this: Despite the pain, I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11 But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.  Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?  No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.”

When I read this passage again, God reminded me of something He showed me years ago. “You feel this way right now as Job did then, but Chapter 42 hadn’t been written when Job felt that way…stop looking at the snapshot of your life when I possess the big picture of your life. And today, like Job, I can say with all integrity: “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth at last.” Job 19:25

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, wrote: “Nothing can harm you permanently, no suffering is irrevocable, no loss is lasting, no defeat is more than transitory, no disappointment is conclusive. Jesus did not deny the reality of suffering, discouragement, disappointment, frustration and death; he simply stated that the kingdom of God would conquer all of these horrors, that the Father’s love is so prodigal that no evil could possibly resist it.”

THE BIG PICTURE

CHAPTER 42

Job 42:12 “So the Lord blessed Job in the second half of his life even more than in the beginning.” This is what Job could not fathom in Job 6.

Each moment of each day is the gift of a snapshot…whether blurred or focused, it’s only a snapshot. I can’t live in the future because God is the only One who holds those keys. To live life’s journey in the Big Picture is where ruthless trust abides as I trust in Him to unlock the doors to my future.

So yes…2016 will be another year to read through the Bible in a year and live life to the fullest in the Snapshots while ruthlessly trusting my Savior for the Big Picture.