The Jig-saw Puzzle of Walking with God

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

Over the past week, my wife and I had some time away. The cabin where we stayed is like a time capsule from the 1990s. There is no cell service there, and there is no wi-fi. This means long, quiet hours to fill without distraction. Of course we watched DVDs, but we also assembled a jigsaw puzzle, a devilishly difficult Noah’s Ark puzzle.

I was behind the door when they were handing out whatever skill is needed for working jigsaw puzzles. I can spend an hour laboring over the pieces and come away with only two connections. It is frustrating and tedious work, leading me to a kind of despair.

As I examined a particular piece, I even wondered if it belonged in this puzzle at all. I couldn’t see how it fit into the design. My wife, whom God has blessed with abundant puzzle-solving skills, explained that you must examine the entire picture to find where a particular piece fits in. The better you understand that big picture, the easier it is to envision where each piece belongs.

We all have those moments when we’re holding a piece of the puzzle – a setback or complication or even a tragedy – and we cannot imagine how such a thing could fit into God’s wise and good plan for our welfare and His glory. What’s different in the life of faith is we cannot envision the big picture; we don’t have a clear idea what the overall pattern will look like when all is complete.

But what we do know is that there is a Pattern, and it is exquisite, and that we will be not just satisfied but also delighted when we can see it in its completion. We know that all the pieces are necessary, even the apparently ugly and perplexing ones. We know also that there are no missing pieces.

There is a turning point in jigsaw puzzles, when the puzzle is almost complete and you realize that all you need to do is find places for the final few pieces. In the same way, the longer we walk with God, the more we can see the Pattern emerge. At the end of his long ordeal, Joseph was able to tell his brothers that even their treachery fit into a pattern for good, what they “intended for evil, God intended for good, the saving of many lives” (Gen 50:20).

You may be holding a puzzle piece that perplexes you right now, but don’t despair. Your Father knows exactly what He’s doing. All the pieces – even the dark and confusing ones – will fit together into a glorious Design that will give you great satisfaction and give the Designer great glory.

Persevere.
Paul Pyle