Sunday, February 14, 2010

Look Unto Me

I just started a new devotional called Look Unto Me by Charles Spurgeon. It's only been about a week, but this guy has some pretty amazing insights into Christianity and being in relationship with Christ. In the devotional from February 10th, there was a quote from the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard that jumped off the page at me (I have no idea who this is, but the guy sounds smart and I sound smarter for quoting a philosopher).

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

I can't even tell you how relevant this is to me as I look back on the past year or so. And on that day (February 10th), it became even more relevant. Later that day, I was reading through 2 Corinthians 4. I have read this chapter before a few times, one time during a particularly pivotal moment in my life just under a year ago, but this time, it took on a whole new meaning. Especially this passage:

"That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we cannot see will last forever." ~ 2 Cor 4: 16-18

Just over a year ago this passage was given to me by someone close to me which snowballed into a significant chain of events. While these events took me from the lowest of lows to very high and then back down again, I know now, looking back, that this was all part of God's plan. I have heard people say that Christians think bad things won't happen to them that they are protected from heartache, but I don't know where they get that thought from. God often uses heart break and struggles in our life to draw us near to Him to make us realize our need for Him. And that's what he did for me by allowing me to go through what I did over the past year. I still don't understand everything, and I may never will, but I understand enough from the past to know that God is orchestrating a beautiful plan. It's crazy but so cool that this scripture takes on a completely different meaning to me now. It's now a message of hope. A little reminder that God is working things out for good.

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards"...one day at a time.