There’s so much going on around us that we do not see—and so little that we do.
It’s funny—we call ourselves God’s highest creation. Yet there are birds that can perceive colors we cannot see and dogs that can hear sounds that we cannot. There are aspects of reality that are fundamentally undetectable by our senses—and that is the way God wants it.
Look around—it’s no mistake we are where we are. God placed us right here. The family—the job—the neighborhood—the situation—the church that we’re in. “He chooses our heritage for us.” (Psalm 47:4 CJB)
Good … and bad … things happen, and sometimes bad things do happen to good people. There’s a reason for everything. But, have we ever wondered about all the bad things that DID NOT happen? Times when we’ve slipped, yet we didn’t stumble? When we may have stumbled, yet we didn’t fall? When we may have even face planted, but we didn’t break our nose or lose a tooth or suffer a concussion? “Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 KJV)
There’s a God who exists like ambient LIGHT—who is EVERYWHERE—who watches and moderates and orchestrates EVERYTHING. Have we ever thanked Him for the everything He keeps from us that WE cannot see?
Thanking God for the blessings we see and know about is good—it’s expected and proper. But, by also actively—and consistently—practicing gratitude for the things that have never happened, we naturally cultivate a more positive outlook. It builds our faith and trust, increases our resilience, and it teaches us to more fully appreciate the present moment. We don’t fear the path ahead, even though we cannot see it, for we know Jesus goes on before us preparing the way.
The Psalmist said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalms 119:105 KJV)
God is LIGHT. Ambient LIGHT. In the beginning, God said, “Let there BE LIGHT …” before He ever created a source for the light. Before the sun, moon, or stars, He was the WORD and the LIGHT. “Thy word is … a light unto my path.”
There’s enough ambient LIGHT in life to see the proof of God’s existence, and there’s abundant LIGHT in His Word to reveal His Will. His WORD IS His WILL, and everyone has the benefit of the LIGHT of God on their path everyday—whether or not they acknowledge it. The inclination to do what’s right, the inspiration to create beauty, whatever GOOD is in us … it is ALL “from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17 KJV)
But, there’s more—looking at the first part of the verse, the psalmist is more specific: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet …” His Word is not just ambient light, but directed light. Focused light. Limited light. It creates a circle of light for my feet, as I walk step by step each day, but it doesn’t illuminate everything. It doesn’t expose the dangers lurking in the dark that only He can see. It doesn’t show me the eyes of the enemy that watch from his dark realm—the edge of the cliff just inches from my feet—the roots and rocks that He is already pushing away. I don’t see the boulders of grief, sickness, and hardship that lay ahead—but He is already moving them or preparing me to navigate through them.
God’s limited lampLIGHT gives just enough information to take the next step without stumbling. We can see enough of what God has done for us—the evident blessings he has bestowed—to fill eternity with our thanksgiving. But, there is FAR MORE of what He has done for us than what we will ever be able to see. Showers of blessings of protection, provision, and favor that have come at us from all directions, but that we never saw in the small circle of light at our feet.
“God gets glory from concealing things; kings get glory from investigating things. (Proverbs 25:2 CJB)
Prayer: Dear Jesus, Allow me to stop and thank You for Your limited light. For ALL the things You didn’t let me see—all the things You didn’t allow to happen in my life. I don’t need to know now. It will just be glory someday to finally see it all—it will take all of eternity to thank You. Amen.
