How Everything Fits

I love working on jigsaw puzzles. This is not something my husband and sons enjoy, so I’m usually left alone to figure out where the pieces go. Occasionally one of them will walk by and drop a piece in place, and it’s usually the one I’ve been searching for. Sometimes it just helps to have another perspective on the problem.

It seems like life is a puzzle, especially now. Who would have thought that we would live to see the dismantling of our republic and the wholesale abrogation of individual rights, while half our population diverts itself with nihilistic ideologies? The pieces don’t seem to fit together. People say one thing and do another. They smile with their faces and promote death with their actions. Ads show fancy cars and high-tech medicines, while prices skyrocket and shelves get emptier. Covid mandates get more draconian by the minute, while unvaxxed aliens continue to pour unchecked over our southern border. We used to be strong, but now we’re just afraid.

We could try to connect these pieces, to make some sense of how we got here, and why we’re so divided. But the pieces don’t fit. As a Christian, I understand that there is a spiritual battle going on. I can see that we’re facing an ideological rift in our culture. It’s evident to me that much of what’s happening is a culmination of years of atheistic and relativist thinking, cutting people loose from the protection and reason of Judeo-Christian ethics. The result is chaos, and chaos begs the question, “Why don’t the pieces of our human puzzle fit?” Closer to home, the puzzle becomes more personal: if God is all-powerful and completely good, why do people we love die of Covid? Why do we face job loss for speaking the truth? Why do our children question their faith? Why do financial worries keep us up at night?

Maybe the answer to the “Why” puzzle is the same as the question: Because God is all-powerful and completely good. In His goodness, God gives each of us exactly what we need, not for our comfort or power or material well-being, but for the good of our souls. Difficulties force us into the arms of our Heavenly Father, who loves us. In the end, our all-powerful God gets the glory, and we get Eternity. Our responsibility now is to run the race we’re given. Just run, and trust. The result is joy:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2

Suffering is part of being human, living in a fallen world. But it doesn’t have to destroy us. Our desire should be to become more like our Lord Jesus every day. We do have supernatural hope. With God’s Holy Spirit in us, we can learn to pray effectively, read the Bible with insight, and follow God’s guidance in our lives. Submitted to God, our souls will experience peace and confidence in the midst of whatever trials come along. That’s good news. I may never know the answers to my questions about the world, but I choose to trust God with my present and my future puzzles. He knows how everything fits.

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Standing with you,

Carolyn

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