THE BIGGER PICTURE!

 

                                              

           As I was reading the passage from 1 peter 5: 5- 11(NKJV), which is about Submitting To God And Resisting The devil, the latter half of verse 10 said “……after you have suffered for a while; perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.’ I got stuck on the phrase ‘suffered for a while’.

      Lately my mind has been wrestling with that word ‘while.' I know of God’s goodness. I have tasted and experienced it personally, I know of God’s Sovereignty. I know that nothing is impossible with God. There is not an iota of doubt in my mind about his capability to perform miracles or HIS grace or HIS mercy or HIS perfect ways or HIS perfect time. BUT it’s been 13 years since my last brain-surgery, since I have walked around without any help. I have had 2 brain-surgeries at the age of 20 and then again it recurred at 23 alongwith 28 sittings of radiations. I have had Cushing Syndrome due to consumption of steroids and in the process lost my ability to balance and walk. And even though I am recovering , it is not happening at the rate that I had in my mind!

               I thought i had made peace with everything that happened to me and how my future would be different than others and how my original plan of being an engineer (I was studying engineering) was not going to happen but I thought atleast by now I’d be able to balance myself completely and walk just like before. And that did not happen! So that phrase “…suffered for a while..” was getting difficult to read and accept.

            I don’t know how long is that ‘for a while.’ Infact i don't think anyone knows the exact time! But we know that    2 Peter 3:8 says ‘But do not forget this one thing, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.’ Everyone goes through struggles; it could be physical, financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, etc. Waiting patiently in our ‘for a while’ time without any doubts , fear, anxious thoughts is difficult and seems an impossible task on human level and therefore it tells us how much more do we need God’s grace to move forward , God’s peace to calm our racing heart and restless thoughts, the HOLY SPIRIT to help us (John 14:15-18) , guide us and remind us of HIS words and HIS promises (John 14:26).

             I had read somewhere that ‘ A certain uncertainty is required for our faith to be fully activated.’ Only when we are uncertain about our future and the road seems blurry, we tend to completely lean on God and fully TRUST HIM. Only then we will hold HIS hand, fix our eyes on HIM and take a step and move forward, even in darkness.

             My time i.e. my ‘ for a while- time' was definitely lesser than 13 yrs  and so I was getting restless and impatient and comparing and not focussing on God’s time.

         But the same v10 continues with ‘…after you have suffered a while’ i.e  after this suffering which is a temporary and momentary suffering ( 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NKJV, Romans 8:18 NKJV), comes God's action of making us perfect , establishing us, strengthening us and settling us, in our faith. God uses these verbs perfect, establish, strengthen and settle to describe His work through suffering. He will restore us and make our faith whole , steadfast, secure and firm. 

       In God’s economy sufferings are not random and never useless. They teach us and refine us of our impurities just like a blacksmith. HE is perfecting our faith in our every situation! God sees the bigger and the entire picture! And so HIS ways and timings are different. We just have to trust him!

 

^{2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NKJV) :-}

 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,  while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.