Ever heard the saying, “Look at the big picture?”

I’ve talked to people who are having trouble in their lives, and just can’t seem to make sense of it, about how we can so easily miss the big picture for the small details.

I’ve used this illustration to help people see how the sovereignty of God, how He is in control, is a thing to be comforted by. Have you ever put together a puzzle? I’m not talking about a small, 100 or even 200 piece puzzle…not even a 500, but, a 1000 pieces or more? When you’ve done one or two of those, you’ve got a wonderful illustration of God’s sovereignty.

Think about how you put a puzzle like tha together. Brandy and I used to do puzzles often. The BIG ones were our favorites. We’d start by putting together the borders and working our way inward. Those border pieces were always the easiest to spot because of the one flat side or two if it was a corner piece. After that, the puzzle had a framework that made sense to us.

Even still, at times we found ourselves staring at the pile and wondering how pieces fit into the rest of the framework. At times we would look at it and think, “that just looks so odd, but, it’s a piece that was given to us so it MUST fit somewhere…right?” At times the puzzle pieces would make NO sense at all or the section we’d put together was just black and full of no detail at all, boring, or even a little “ugly.” Sometimes it just all seems like a huge mess!

However, when the puzzle was completed, even after all those times sections or pieces would make no sense, the final result was an amazing scene full of colorful details where even the seemingly “ugly” pieces, the pieces that made no sense, fit into place in the big picture and made everything make even more sense than it would have without them.

Life is little different than putting together a puzzle. The pieces we’re given often do not make sense or are seemingly very ugly. But, in the bigger picture, they “fit” and are even essential to make the overall result what it is, a beautiful picture of ourselves that only God could have “put together” so wonderfully and masterfully.

SOMETIMES, however, the greatest of beauties can be found in the smallest and most seemingly insignificant of details.

Be careful to not always try to “figure out” the big picture. Trust God with it and seek the beauty of the details… those things we don’t see until we look closer… wanting to find the beauty that God is working.

From a distance, some things seem so unlovely, so unattractive or even plain. But, when you look with the eyes God gives you… you see the beauty in the details.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible, says this…

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28