Sometimes life doesn’t make sense. We look at the situations that we are experiencing and wonder where God is, or if he even cares at all.
Other times, life seems quiet and blah. Doesn’t God have any special assignments for us? Why does everyone else seem to be “#blessed” when we feel “#forgotten.”
Life can be puzzling!
This week in our Children’s Church lesson I taught on the life of Timothy. Timothy was born and raised in Lystra by a God-fearing mother and grandmother. One day the apostle Paul came to visit Timothy’s town, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ, and he healed a man who couldn’t walk. All the people wanted to worship Paul, but Paul told them he was only a man, and that they should worship Jesus. This angered some of the townspeople, and they forced Paul to leave Lystra.
There is no way that young Timothy could have known at that first encounter with Paul that he would one day travel on an extensive missionary journey with him, nor could he have predicted that one day Paul would ask him to become the leader of the Christians in Ephasus. God had many wonderful things in store for Timothy’s life. But they didn’t all happen right away.
We have the advantage of being able to look at Timothy’s life from start to finish and see how all of the puzzle pieces of his life “fit” together.
I find it interesting that the Bible is silent about the years of Timothy’s life leading up to Paul’s invitation to travel with him on a missionary journey. What was going on during those years?
I marvel at Timothy willingness to say “yes” to Paul’s invitation to go with him on a missionary journey. He would have had to leave everything familiar behind, with no cell phone to keep in touch!
Finally, I love Paul’s description of Timothy in Philippians where he says, “I have no one else like him.” It is evident that their journey together created a tightly knit bond of special friendship.
In my own life, I need faith to believe that God has my “puzzle” planned, and that one piece at a time he is fitting it all together according to his masterful design.
When God is silent…that piece of the puzzle is there for a reason!
When a situation doesn’t work out the way I had hoped…that piece of the puzzle is there for a reason!
When I feel overlooked…that piece of the puzzle is there for a reason!
