More Than We Can See
I love a good road trip! Snacks, good music (classic rock, anyone?), the excitement of time away from my routine – I’m ready to hit the road! But what I’m not crazy about is taking a long drive only to have to pack up and head home before I’ve really gotten into true vacation relaxation mode.
So nowadays, if my boyfriend (AKA husband) and I can snag a decent airfare, flying is the way to go. We want to get to our home away from home as soon as possible, stay as long as we can, and arrive back at the Love Shack (AKA our house) with no signs of road weariness.
We flew into Portland last summer, then rented a car for a two-hour drive west to a lovely Pacific Coast beach. Near the end of our flight, we began to hear murmurs about the view from the windows. Sure enough – in the distance, protruding through the white cotton clouds, was the tip of Mt. Hood. And it was awesome!
Browsing through the coffee table books at our hotel a couple of days later, photo collections of Mt. Hood revealed that underneath that layer of clouds was a massive volcanic mountain with a 92-square mile base! Further reading described numerous glaciers, five ski areas, 1.2 million acres of national forest, and over 1,200 miles of hiking trails. Not things I could’ve seen or known or even imagined as I’d looked out that airplane window.
When I was young in my Christian faith, I slowly painted a picture in my mind of the character of God. Every Scripture or Bible study brought to light a new aspect of His heart. The crazy thing was – instead of gaining a better grasp of Who He was, I was astounded to discover that there was even more to Him than I could see or know or even imagine from where I was sitting. The more I learned, the greater the mystery that surrounded Him. And yet, I’d come to trust Him so implicitly, that I gladly embraced that mystery. Just as that awesome view of the tip of Mt. Hood was underwhelming in comparison to the enormity of the whole mountain, I realized that there was infinitely more to God than what I could ever see or know or even imagine from this earthly vantage point.
What often occurs to me is that while God hasn’t revealed Himself to me in His entirety, what He has shown me is good – His faithfulness, grace, wisdom, kindness, mercy – on and on the list goes. I’m convinced by what I see that what I don’t see will also be good – very good indeed. And as I wait for the Day when I’ll see Him face to face, I know I can trust His ways – even if they’re beyond my simple understanding.
Today, take a slow moment to just gaze on the beauty of the Lord. Trust in His heart. Hand your burdens to Him. And then believe this truth – there is SO MUCH more of His grace and wisdom than you can see, but it’s there – for your good and for His glory.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:9
