On Top and Underneath

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We can't always understand God's ways. We live below heaven and we don't have clear, complete, or wide vision. As Paul said, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Needlework, such as embroidery and needlepoint, is also a good illustration of this.

I learned to embroider when I was five years old. I had been recovering from an illness and needed to stay in bed, but I was feeling better, became restless, and wanted to get up. Mother gave me a simple piece of cloth with a pattern stamped on it for me to embroider to keep me occupied. I continued with it and other crafts throughout the years.

When you view the underneath side of such needlework, it's a mess of crossed threads, knots, and sometimes tangles. This is also how we view our lives at times since we're living in a fallen world on this side of heaven. Viewed from the topside, however, a beautiful picture emerges. This is how God sees His children who have accepted His Son as their Savior from His vantage point. We don't have that view yet, but we will. However, we can have glimpses of the pattern above through faith in our sovereign God. 

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