Have you ever looked at the other side of something embroidered or a tapestry? I have a little piece here from our home. You can look at one side and see this beautiful image. Yet flip it over, and there is an ugly collection of criss crossed threading that seems to make no sense at all.
You can make out like a little thing here and there but overall, about 95% of it is just a mess.
It is not strange how the two sides can be so different? The back side an utter mess and the visible side, an artful image.
This is a great visual explanation for suffering.
Sunday, we began a study on the book of Ruth and considered those opening sentences in light of the sovereignty of God. God IS good and God IS sovereign AND importantly, for the believer, all things work to the glory of God.
When we are suffering it can appear a lot like this back side. There is just a huge collection of threads in our life that seem to be going nowhere in particular. Things seem to be a mess and disjointed and we can’t find a purpose in any of it.
There is a side that so often we do not see until the work is complete. And it becomes the image that the creator was desiring to make. This is a beautiful thing to consider.
S.D.G.