Do you ever doubt Scripture? I don’t mean doubting its inerrancy, but its application to real life. You know what I mean: “Okay, that sounds interesting, but I’m not sure that’s for now or for me. C’mon, that can’t mean me!”
Here’s the verse that got me thinking: “He has made everything beautiful in its time….”
Everything?! Really? Everything?!
My viewpoint is subjective. That’s a fancy way of saying, “Things should be the way I want them to be.” I see some things as beautiful, but about other things I say, “This is a pain, or this is ugly.” But if I believe God’s Word, in God’s timing everything is beautiful.
I think the second part of the verse illuminates the problem of my subjectivity. “…He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Eternity—my soul’s longing for God—is in me, yet I cannot grasp it. Not naturally, at least. God knows how everything will end beautifully because He made everything beautifully.
Even me.
My life might seem like a mess at times: ugly, scared, scarred, even worthless. But God sees beauty. And we know that in all things [even the ugly stuff] God works for the good [the beautiful] of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28). God gives His beauty to replace my ashes.
With subjective thinking, this doesn’t seem very likely. It’s hard to subjectively see how God could turn my ugliness and my pain into anything beautiful.
That’s why Scripture also contains this prayer: A prayer that will change my subjectivity (seeing only my ugliness) to objectivity (now seeing God’s beauty). If you struggle to see everything as beautiful, pray this prayer right now:
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Amen!
Craig T. Owens 