God Looks at the Big Picture

"You have said,

'How terrible it is for me!

The Lord has given me sorrow along with my pain.

I am tried because of my suffering and cannot rest."

Jeremiah 45:3

READ Jeremiah 40:1-45:5

SITUATION Except for 52:31-34, chapters 40-44 are chronologically the last writings in the book of Jeremiah. They recount the fall of Jerusalem (in 586 B.C.) and its aftermath of destruction.

OBSERVATION After the fall of Jerusalem, Jeremiah ministered to the remnant in Palestine and Egypt. They may have lost hope, but God looks at the big picture.

INSPIRATION It's impossible to pass through life without experiencing times when you cannot see your way through a deep valley. Times when the package delivered at the back door comes delivered in the ugly wrapping of death or affliction or illness or even divorce....John Selden, the old British jurist and scholar, put it even more bluntly, "pleasure is nothing else but the intermission of pain."

You may find yourself enjoying the intermission. Today, you may be smiling. Your heart may be light and merry. Perhaps answers to prayer have come beautifully and deliberately. You are swept away in delight. But it's also quite possible that you are caught in the grip of affliction. You may be going through some of the hardest days of your life. You may be wondering, Why? Why me? Why this trail?

When you persevere through a trail, God gives you a special measure of insight. You become the recipient of the favor of God as He gives to you something that would not be learned otherwise. (From Wisdom for the Way by Charles Swindoll)

APPLICATION If you're undergoing a trail in your life, try to look at the big picture. Reflect on your current situation and ask God to help you see it from his view. Spend a day alone with God and ask him to help you understand his perspective for life.

EXPLORATION Guidance -- Psalm 23:3; 25:4-5; Isaiah 58:11; John 16:12-13

The Devotional Bible - Experiencing The Heart of Jesus; Max Lucado, General editor, New Century Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers