Seeing God in My Rearview Mirror

“Many times we don’t realize God’s active involvement in our lives until we look back in the rear view mirror.”– Glen Pullin, fellow MCC church member

If you study through the Hebrew Scriptures it is hard to miss the fact that God is the chief actor in the story. Nothing takes place without his foreknowledge. He is behind every scene working to produce the best finale. He is the director. Yet somehow he gives the actors free will to make decisions. There is a mystery in the tension between man’s (limited) free will and God’s sovereign power. I don’t really understand it. But I know that both are true.

From Abraham Job to to Moses to Joseph to Daniel, we see God’s involvement in everyday affairs and spectacular encounters. More than just permit evil to happen, God works through it.

Overcome by the power of the moment, it can be so easy to forget God’s track record. Whatever we are dealing with becomes all we see. It obscures our view of God. We don’t see Him working despite our pain, struggle or trial.

David Eells wrote in Sovereign God, “Evil is a tool of God’s sovereignty to bring us to purity and maturity…Sometimes we look at circumstances instead of the Word and think that the devil has been able to put a stop to God’s plan. God would have never made the devil if he had been someone who could stop His plan.”

As we see in the story of Joseph being sold into slavery or Jesus condemned on a cross, God uses sin to produce a holy, living result. It can be almost impossible to recognize God’s involvement in the heat of the moment. But nonetheless God’s divine reversal is taking place. Just as Glen said to me, we may only see God when we look back at what He has done and marvel at the fact that He was in our situation after all.