Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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Aug 23, 2016 10:00:00 PM
The Bible doesn’t tell us everything. Not even close. That’s because there are huge gaps between most events. Oh, to be sure, the Bible tells us all we need to know. But it leaves out most of the details that scratch our curious itches.
(Photo: The Zin Valley in the Aravah of Israel. Picture by Noam Armonn)
For starters:
We’ll never know. And this offers a huge encouragement in our life of faith.
When we read the Scriptures, we see selected events. Even in the cases of individuals whose births and deaths are recorded—like Samuel or Samson or even Jesus—we read only of certain incidents. The Bible never shows the entire life of anybody. Even a great life of faith.
Think about when someone asks you your own life story. What do you tell?
Because time and especially patience are limited, most people really appreciate the bottom line. Frankly, I’m grateful the Bible gives it.
But that can pose a problem for us.
Because the biblical narratives usually reflect only the turning points in a life of faith, we tend to see biblical lives as nothing but non-stop action. One only has to read the book of Ruth or the life of Paul to see the Lord very involved in their lives. There’s exciting stuff on every page!
Our lives, by comparison, seem, well—dull. While the Bible reveals its characters in terms of their high points, we, on the other hand, tend to evaluate our lives by the lousy week we just slogged through. We’ll go for years without a significant event!
So, here’s our problem. We’ll think, God, why aren’t you working in my life like you did in biblical days?
As result of this struggle, we may assume:
Time for some perspective. We need to remember that between significant biblical events lay large gaps of time—weeks, months, years, and sometimes, even centuries.
But the gaps needn’t discourage us. In fact, they should do the opposite.
Most of life is lived in the gaps between great moments. In light of this, we have two options:
If we hope to maintain a life of faith, we must accept our gaps as part of God’s will.
Gaps are normal. In fact, most of life is gaps.
And that’s okay.
Tell me what you think: What gets you through the long gaps of life? To leave a comment, just click here.
This post is adapted from Wayne’s book, Waiting on God: What to Do When God Does Nothing.
• What do you do when the life God has promised you looks nothing like the life he has given you?
• If you find yourself waiting on God—or if you don’t know what God wants you to do next—this book offers a wise and practical guide to finding hope and peace in life’s difficult pauses.
You will discover what to do when it seems God does nothing.
Click here to leave a comment.
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