Pieces of the Puzzle
“Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,”
Psalms 105:3-5 ESV
Several years ago, I wrote a book called, Compelled by Grace. I had another title in mind that would offer a better glimpse into its contents, if the reader is familiar with Journey to the Inner Chamber, the Narrator and most of all Gabe. The book’s story is that the Narrator returns to the valley, buys Gabe’s farm, and spends the next twenty years discovering the amazing influence Gabe had on the people of the valley. There was more to the story and the book reveals more. My original title would have been Gabe’s Valley. But I talked myself out of it. I regret it. Therefore, we are presently renaming the book as we must reprint it, for we want people to know that there’s more to Gabe’s story. I also wrote a study guide with the book that biblically unpacks thirteen Kingdom Secrets to discuss in a small group setting. Now allow me to tell you the hidden reason I wrote it.
The story, characters and setting of the book allowed me an opportunity to creatively express an awareness that I’ve been given with how God has worked out of sight and sometimes in plain sight most of my life, and in fact the lives of most Christians. The plain sight revelations are obvious but are few in number. The out of sight eye-openers are seen more in retrospect and with connections to an event or such that showed up later. But it required taking the time to connect those dots. As I looked retrospectively at different points in my life, I began to see that God was at work out of sight and unrecognized to bless and perfect His plans for me. I didn’t see it at the time. But, oh how I see the way they connect now. I must be honest and admit I felt some shame that I hadn’t taken a closer look at my journey in life to make note of strategic intersections where there was a change and redirection. When looking at them, I came to see that God had been revealing Himself to me in so many ways, and I had not recognized it. Don’t you think we owe Him at least a heartfelt acknowledgement that we see what He’s done? Maybe it’s because we’ve not connected the spiritual pieces in the puzzle, and we need help doing so.
I read about a young man years ago, who complimented the lecturer at his seminary. He said that like a puzzle with different parts, through the years he was given many insights from scripture and God moments. But they were like random pieces of a puzzle that he just threw on the table in a scattered way, not knowing how to connect them. The lecturer helped him put the pieces together, and he discovered that it was a clear picture of God and His love that was being shown to him. This made me think of the numerous spiritual pieces of the puzzle God gives to all of us through the years that we don’t connect. If we would do so, we would see so many coded messages from God that weave a glorious picture of Himself and His love for us. What happens when we do this? We come to understand a biblical truth that says this in the Bible.
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!”
Psalm 139:17 NLT
What can we do to begin connecting the spiritual pieces in the puzzle? For me, I took out my journal and began listing the many spiritual epiphanies that I had seen or realized going back to my childhood. I took my time. As an adult I can evaluate those things better than when I was a child. In each revelation I made note of what was revealed to me about God, myself, and my world around me. I came to conclude that there was an orchestrated process that built on the other spiritual epiphanies. It was as if I was being mentored by God to understand Him better and more intimately. The more I saw this, the more I loved Him and desired to release all of me to His complete orchestration of my life.
There are still puzzle pieces that are mysterious to me and don’t seem to fit. In fact, they can be a little confusing until I pray, ask for God’s insight, and wait patiently for His revelation. They generally come to light and build on previous pieces and make sense. At my age they only get better, for I’ve been under God’s faithful love for a long time, and He is who He is. He doesn’t change. But hopefully I will change to make more room in my heart to understand Him better.
I get it, a lot of people are discouraged in their efforts to get some answers and some timely help. They seem to be waiting much too long for God to act. But trust me in this. If God has us waiting, we want to be waiting. He’s doing some great things out of sight. We can trust Him on that, and we will see it sometime in the future. We will come to understand how important it was that we waited on His timing, for He eventually delivered us the best heaven has to offer and again ... that is what we want.