I love the Waze app on my phone. I love it because I am pretty bad with all things geography and that disability usually creeps into directions. Waze has bailed me out many times and I have learned to always, always follow the Waze lady’s directions. Under no circumstances should I ever deviate from her suggestions because without fail, I will be sitting in hours of traffic that I could have avoided had I just made the turn the Waze lady told me to, even though that turn made no sense at all to me and even though I had never gone that way before. Make the turn! Follow her directions.
Why does everything in us want to go our own way when we know we don’t have the full picture?
See, the Waze lady has all the directional knowledge. She knows where the traffic is and which roads are closed. She is the eye in the sky, so to speak. On the other hand, we are just driving the path we normally take and can only see what is right in front of us.
What looks like the best path to us is clearly the worst path to someone who can see the whole picture.
Being an adopted kid, I carried around a photo copy of a picture of my birth dad. It’s the only picture I had of him and I can’t even see his whole face because he is not looking at the camera. Over the years it has turned an interesting yellow color and it’s sort of a wrinkled mess. The copy that I have is one that someone photocopied of the real picture and gave to me. I have carried around a partial picture for 25 years. But, for 25 years, I didn’t know I only had part of the picture. I thought I had the whole picture and I thought I would always only see half of my birth dad’s face. Until recently. Recently, I have connected with my birth dad and it has been an incredible gift! But, because “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above”, even more gifts have been bestowed upon me in the revelation of a brother and a sister. Now, that has been an awesome unimaginable gift!
But, back to my photocopied wrinkled picture of my birth dad. See, my sister always had the entire picture. She held the framed full picture. And what I thought was my whole story in knowing my birth dad, God had the full picture. Just like the Waze lady. God could see the entire thing and because His timing is perfect, He was just waiting for the right time for my Xerox copy to match the framed one that my sister holds. What I thought I longed for, for so many years was to know my birth dad, but God, in His goodness and sweetness, waited many years to reveal an even greater gift and one that would completely grab my heart strings. A sister who I absolutely adore! By just looking at that picture for so many years, I would never have imagined there was more to the picture. And truthfully, had I been able to see the whole picture, I would certainly have messed something up. God’s plan is best and His protection is sure.
What I couldn’t see, my Heavenly Father could. There was no way for me to know there was more to the picture, but He did and He does because in my humanness I am not able to imagine in my wildest dream what God has prepared for those who love Him.
“No eye has seen, nor ear has heard and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)
Do you think you have the whole picture? Are you worried that you can’t see what’s ahead? Friend, let me tell you, that even if we had the whole picture, in our human timing, we would find a way to botch our path. God tells us in His Word that He is good and He is for us. He cannot lie. He cannot mislead. Because He is good and because He is for you, surrender in trusting your photocopy with His beautifully framed picture. One day, you will see the whole picture and your messy, beat up, wrinkled photocopy will match His beautiful perfect copy. And I promise that you will say nothing but, “Go God!”
God has unveiled a story in my life that I would have never been able to dream up. It was perfectly orchestrated by Him. He has given me a gift that I never knew I needed or yearned for so deeply. And my heart whispers, “Thank you, Jesus. Your plan. Your way. All the time.”
Bre Harper
CHM Contributor
