Puzzle Pieces

The frame of the puzzle was complete, and nearby, a jumbled pile of pieces waited to be fitted into the center. The size and shape had been determined -- now what would the picture be? Looking at this scene on a friend's desk, I saw a perfect analogy for our lives. It's easy enough to agree that God has a specific plan for each of us, but we all know that finding out that plan seems to be a wild goose chase at times. Too often, the problem is that we want God to show us the whole picture all at once. But in the puzzle of our lives, we don't get the box with a picture to refer to -- only God has that. He gives us the pieces, one at a time, and our task is to put them together.

Throughout your life, you will collect pieces: where you were born, how you were raised, your personality, influences, experiences, and opportunities all contribute to the picture. Sometimes they are edge pieces, defining the shape of your life. Those tend to be the easy ones because they're pretty logical. They expand your boundaries and set clear limits. Then comes the daunting part: filling it in.  The rest of the pieces don't have a straight edge to guide you -- they could go anywhere. And God rarely hands you each piece in the order it was made to fit. The pile of loose pieces gets larger and larger, and as impatience and frustration build, the tendency is to start smashing pieces into any possible space just to make some progress. Often, one piece must wait for another that may come much later to connect it to the picture.

Sometimes God will hand you a piece you can't make sense of -- it's dark and ugly, and doesn't appear to have any place in a beautiful picture. So you shove it under the pile and struggle on, when that may be just the piece that was needed to make an important connection. Other people will have their own view of your puzzle, and sometimes, perhaps with the kindest of intentions, might hand you a piece and say, "Here, try this one." But if it didn't come out of God's puzzle box with your name on it, it won't fit. And try as you might, it will only cause fruitless stress. You may be able to make it work for the moment, but the picture is guaranteed to be a sorry mess of the picture God had in mind.

When nothing seems to be fitting together and you feel like you've been staring at an empty frame longer than you can stand, don't give up! Ask for help from the One who knows the picture, because without it, your chances of making a right connection are very slim indeed -- your life is far more intricate than any 1,000-piece puzzle. With His guidance, keep trying patiently until something fits, and wait for Him to give you the next piece that might make all the difference. Nothing could be more sad than to come to the end and have all the pieces, but no beautiful picture because you refused to work with what God gave you.

"His divine power has given us

everything we need

for life and godliness."

2 Peter 1:3

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil

A month ago, amidst the usual beauty I yearly enjoy in the coastal forests of Drift Creek Camp, I and others also came up against some unwelcome encounters – Satan’s forces were on the move. Even there, hidden in the mountains away from the world, they found us, and set about to make life difficult and tie down God’s work. I have seen the enemy in action before, but never met him in such a battle as swept through the camp in those few days, on the fringes though I was. Seldom in the experience of American Christians do we see Satan attack undisguised, which of course is one of his strategies to keep us unprepared. I was reminded that the source of all our troubles is threefold: the world, the flesh, and the devil; and we must be aware of what we are dealing with to know how to best respond.

The world is of course where we live, and it is certainly less than ideal. Since the fall, everything around us is deteriorating and corrupt, and the natural result is hardship. Storms, sickness, death, accidents, pain, ugliness and decay all come from an earth that is falling apart. Certainly, nothing pleases Satan better than seeing God’s creation suffer, but he does not truly have control over the state of nature – it is a condition that God has allowed as the result of man’s violation of His order. God is neither responsible for the world’s decay, nor has He lost control of it – the sorrows of the world give some of the greatest opportunity for God to show His redemptive power and bring glory to Himself. Our response to trouble from the world should be recognition that we live in a fallen state, but God is still in control even in this world as it is, and through His Son has provided a home for us in the perfect world to come.

The flesh is the nature of sin that each of us struggle with daily. Temptations to selfishness and pride are ever present, and these manifest themselves in sins as varied as the people in the world. Hatred, divorce, laziness, slander, injustice and addiction are all examples of man’s flesh upsetting his own life and the lives around him. Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden destroyed man’s innocence, and he has surely been laughing ever since at the conflict of men against each other and against God. But it was man’s own choice that brought him to this sad state, and man’s choice makes him responsible – God cannot violate his chosen inclination to evil, nor is Satan to blame for his willful acts of sin. The flesh plagues every one of us, and time and time again, we give in and bring disaster on ourselves. But in contrast to our hopeless condition, Jesus had perfect victory over the flesh. And our response to trouble from our flesh should be to turn to Him, confessing our inability, and receive His righteousness in place of our own.

The devil is Satan, our very real enemy with an army of demons at his command. He was the first to rebel against God, and out of hatred for Him, set about to destroy His creation, particularly that special creation made in His image. Satan undoubtedly uses the world and the flesh in more or less undercover ways to trouble us, but at times he will make a personal attack. As the devil and demons are spiritual beings, this attack is on our souls. Supernatural fear, darkness, oppression, and even possession are his direct works to keep us in chains. The child of God belongs to God and can never be possessed by another, but Satan, the prince of the world, may still come against us while we are in his domain. If ever we meet with trouble from the devil, we should respond not flippantly to this skilled destroyer, but with boldness take up our armor and wield the sword of God’s word, for Christ, who has provided this to us, has already won the victory!

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
Ephesians 6:11