As I write this, over 14,000km of British Columbia forests have been destroyed by this year’s wildfires. We don’t just get snow up here — summers can be crushingly hot. Yesterday, I drove away from the thick smoke blowing in from a fire over 50km away and dropping ash all over our cars.
The sky was a little less hazy the further I drove, but the horizon was still merely a silhouette at 7:30 a.m. as I hiked to a ridge, hoping to view a beautiful skyline. I wanted so badly to see further, but all I got were varying shades of brown, like creosote, cigarette stains, and ancient paper.
A Fuzzy Perspective
That view reminded me of a craft my children did in elementary school. They tore varying shades of construction paper (no scissors allowed) lengthwise, creating rough edges at varying heights.
They laid the tallest one down on a sheet of blue paper, then glued the next tallest, turning it so that the angle of the tear moved opposite to the first. The next one was shorter than the last until they had created a horizon of what resembled mountains far in the distance against a blue sky.
It was a fuzzy silhouette really, but close to the reality of our perspective from a long way away. The mountains really do look fuzzy; a ridge will appear all one color. Very little detail is discernable, such as crags in the rocks, shades in the strata, trees, animals, or waterfalls.
Gazing out sadly from that ridge, even the closer horizon looked like a series of smudges. I was prompted to think about perspective and power. On a normal day, when the province isn’t on fire, I can see a long way over the tops of trees and valleys.
It’s a while before that fuzziness takes effect. Compare that with life: if it’s fairly calm, maybe the distant future seems relatively clear; but as soon as circumstances get chaotic, details become blurry shapes. The world closes in.
I suddenly remember how little power I have over anything except how to respond to the challenge. In any of our lives, whether there is a looming crisis or not, we can truly only see a few feet (maybe some months) ahead before reaching an enormous gap in our actual knowledge.
We’d like to believe we know what the coming years will look like. We fantasize and plan. Yet, between next week (or the next hour) and the end of days when Christ comes, it’s all fuzzy horizons.
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). I know what’s going on right now, and I know the promised future.
He Knows, But Then What?
Stephen Charnock wrote, “If there were anything, any particular circumstance in the whole creation or non-creation, and possible to be known by him, and yet were unknown to him, he could not be said to be omniscient; as he would not be Almighty if any one thing, that implied not a repugnancy to his nature, did transcend his power.”
Charnock even commented that God knows everything he could do but chooses not to, which gave me pause: why doesn’t he end the fires, not to mention countless other horrible things going on in the world?
Sean McDowell reminds us that even Christ also asked God difficult questions about suffering: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Yet, “rather than trying to figure out the details of his plan, God wants us to focus on him as a person.”
That’s what we get from Christ’s willingness to come to the cross when he didn’t have to and to submit to the Father’s plan: trust, even though he could not see every step in front of him. Jesus was fully man — he was not prescient.
Jesus trusted the Father. And when he rose from the grave, he continued pointing everyone to the Father. After he had risen from the grave, some of the female disciples told some men that they had seen Jesus.
The men doubted these women, and Jesus (whom they did not immediately recognize) said to them, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
He pointed them right back to the Lord’s long-term plan. God had always known how he would accomplish his purposes, including the agony of his Son and of those who would suffer in the name of Jesus Christ. Christ knew this plan and believed it because he believed God.
So, I can take heart. Even though he knows he does not prevent even the most atrocious sin, there has to be something in God’s plan which I don’t understand. How could I? And even if I doubted there was a God because of atrocities and natural disasters, they would still happen.
My doubt wouldn’t change that; I’d only wind up depressed and hopeless. And those who survive such barbarity would have no hope either; certainly, I could not not share any in that case.
Hope and Peace
I have to add that God knows my heart, my darkness, and he loves me still. He doesn’t put his faith in me to get up and put an end to human trafficking, forest fires, or homelessness — I have no idea where I would start.
I’ll bet there are many times when I could do something and don’t. Times when I could make a difference, but I think my coins, my vote, or my words are too insignificant to matter.
Should I be depressed about that? Both my powerlessness and the fact that God sees the sin of my despair and omission? Absolutely not! I have been given the assurance that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Not only while we were still sinners, but in the past, before I was even born, Christ died for me, knowing I would blow it and blow it and blow it some more.
The Triune God saw the future, and it was bleak — a bunch of sinners, some who would give their lives to him and still act like jerks — and he came down to suffer for our sakes, nonetheless.
How does this affect the way we respond to the horrors of today? We can’t see what will happen tomorrow, let alone five years from now. What good is a small act of kindness to a homeless person or a depressed teenager?
What good is anything we do in the small moments of our very small lives? When “you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
James tells us to make the most of the time we have and do the good we can, what’s right in front of us. Our pastor today said it this way: “We are small people living here for a small amount of time, so do what you can when the opportunity is in front of you.”
That’s the take-home from James 4:13-17. It’s pretty simple. Meanwhile, know that God sees the full picture and he has a perfect plan laid out. Nothing can change that. No one, not even Satan, is more powerful than our Lord.
Comforting Verses from Scripture
Remember God’s promises. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
When your hopes are dashed, and you think your plans are great (and so does every person who ever walked the earth, unfortunately), “it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21) because they are the better purposes. Imagine if everyone could have their way in the long run. Chaos.
But not with our omniscient and loving God: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2).
The world is falling apart, but God sees us, lurking fearfully behind a curtain of smoke, and covers us with his wings (Psalm 91:4).
God has planned a beautiful future for his children, be sure of that. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). And the Kingdom will not be shrouded in shades of brown.
For further reading:
Does the Bible Say 'My God Shall Supply All My Needs'?
What Does it Mean That God Works in Mysterious Ways?
How God’s Presence, Provision, and Promises are Found in the Psalms
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/urbazon
