Tuesday, April 16, 2013

A Peak Behind the Curtain


“Don’t look at the man behind the curtain.” The temptation of Satan for Eve was that she would be like God, knowing as God knows. Or at least that might have been what she thought, but what he really said was that she might know “good and evil.” Before that time she knew only good, yet in a moment her eyes were opened to evil as she and Adam ate and knew sin for the very first time. The consequence of this meant that they were removed from the Garden and their intimate daily relationship with God and His Spirit was severed. They realized real quick that eating would not make them as God, but would put them under the judgment of God.

There are none who know like God, who are all-powerful and sovereign over all of creation, who hold time in their hands as He does. There are none and that is all there is to it. As such He has called us to trust Him in all things even those things in which we might otherwise tend to be critical, setting our criticisms aside as ones who really don’t know what is going on in deference to the One who does.

I remember watching the Wizard of Oz a couple of hundred times (or so) and always enjoyed the part when the wizard was trying to control Oz from behind the curtain. The problem was that he truly was inept at his task and really could at best only put on an appearance of control.

Today Sarah writes about how amazed we would be if we were really to get a glimpse behind God’s curtain. The reality is that we do get such glimpses. We get glimpses when we look into the history of His Word and see how He has worked in the lives of those who have gone before us. We get glimpses as we see how from the beginning He had everything under control, even with our sin and rebellion and our redemption, justification, and even glorification. We get glimpses as we look at the prophecies of the Old Testament and the fulfillment of so many of them. We get glimpses as we read the descriptions of our God as Father, Son, and Spirit throughout Scripture. And we get glimpses as we see Him work in and through our lives and those around us. There are so many ways in which He lets us peak behind the curtain, yet even with the peaks what we know and can know is so limited. So, the next time you are tempted to try to run things, remember your peaks behind the curtain and that you are privileged greatly to have a God who loves you so much and who has control over all creation.

Today in “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young (4/16)

I am calling you to a life of thankfulness. I want all your moments to be punctuated with thanksgiving. The basis for your gratitude is My sovereignty. I am the Creator and Controller of the universe. Heaven and earth are filled with My glorious Presence.

When you criticize or complain, you are acting as if you think you could run the world better than I do. From your limited human perspective, it may look as if I’m mismanaging things. But you don’t know what I know or see what I see. If I pulled back the curtain to allow you to view heavenly realms, you would understand much more. However, I have designed you to live by faith, not by sight. I lovingly shield you from knowing the future or seeing into the spirit world. Acknowledge my sovereignty by giving thanks and all circumstances.

And they were calling to one another: “holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:3

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Give thanks and all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

No comments: