What We Don't See

What do you see around you?

At times we all experience problems. Problems help us grow as James wrote in his epistle, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything " (James 1:2-4, NIV).

What we don’t see is how God develops our character through the trials and problems we face.

As we celebrate the resurrection this weekend, let's remember that the disciples faced trials of their faith as Jesus faced His execution. Peter denied Jesus three times. The others ran and hid.

What the disciples saw was not what they expected. They expected an earthly king to overthrow the Roman empire. But the hope they held onto, they saw crucified on the cross on that Passover evening. They knew the promise, but it was not fulfilled as they expected.

I confess, I have received promises from the Lord and set up expectations in my mind about how those promises would be fulfilled. Then only to feel disappointed about what I saw, just as the disciples felt grief the day their Lord and Savior was brutally crucified on Calgary.

After the crucifixion, the disciples did not know what to do. So they did nothing, but then the good news came three days later. Jesus is alive and conquered death and the grave!

What we see is not always the ultimate outcome just as the death of Jesus was not final. In the times that I felt crushed because of what I saw, if I just sat in prayer and waited on the Lord, the promised result came. But 98 percent of the time, it never came the way I imagined like the King of kings did not come the way the disciples imagined.

Through Jesus we have life because He conquered death. What we see around us is temporary, but we will live in an eternal state after death. Do we live by what we see? Or do we walk by faith in what we don’t see?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ~~ Hebrews 11:1