Can God make something beautiful from the chaos of my life?

Can God make something beautiful from the chaos of my life?

July 2, 2013

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Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

I love butterflies, don’t you? And they are not only beautiful, they are also very interesting. Butterflies spend most of their lives in the larval stage as a caterpillar close to or on their source of food. There they are crawling along willy-nilly and eating, eating, eating like a horde of Baptists at a fellowship dinner. And then, for no reason that anyone knows, they begin to build and develop the chrysalis that will cover their little caterpillar bodies while an amazing transformation takes place.

Once that chrysalis is fully formed and encompasses the caterpillar, its body begins to break itself down into what’s called “undifferentiated” cells, somewhat like stem cells. Scientists don’t believe the caterpillar feels pain, and they may be right. However, the chrysalis itself is sensitive to touch, so I have to wonder if they’re right. I tend to think a process harsh enough to turn your body into “mush” isn’t very comfortable.

You and I are going to change too. Because heartaches change us, and great and repeated heartaches change us greatly. Oh yes, loving a prodigal changes us as it breaks our hearts, and that broken heart is never going to be the same. Like me, you may have wondered if God has forgotten you and the people you love so much, if He’s closed His ears to your prayers and your pain. But Job assures us that God does indeed know “the way that [we] take.” We can’t see through the outer shell of the chrysalis, but God can. What looks like total destruction and devastation on the inside is an opportunity for God to make something new and better. And that’s what He does. 

In some way that scientists can’t understand, those cells begin to form into something new and better in a process that defies logic and can only be called a miracle. Do you need a miracle? Have you prayed for years, and it seems like God doesn’t hear or care that your heart is breaking? I know I’ve felt that way sometimes. And yet I really do know and believe that God can use my situation, my prodigal and even my pain to make something beautiful if I’ll just let Him. What looks like total destruction to me and to others is the perfect opportunity for God to work. I don’t know about you, but I like things to happen quickly, and I’m not usually patient with a process. However, many…make that most…things are a process. If we broke that chrysalis open before God had finished the work He was doing, we wouldn’t find a butterfly. But when the process is complete…when God has finished the work and performed the miracle in the butterfly’s life or in our own lives, we’ll find the result was worth the wait.

Challenge for Today: Can you, just for today, be patient with the process? Can you believe that God will finish the work He has started? (Phil 1:6)

Reviews

[Moomin]

Your words are refreshingly humble, acknowledging pain but also impatience, yet not holding God responsible for the pains of our lives.

You use a beautiful illustration, that of a butterfly, one of the most illustrative creatures of God's creation. Yet, you may have forgotten Jesus' illustration that comforts us as to who we are and how important we are to God.

Jesus told us that we "Are more than many sparrows."

Many people who believe in God think that He is somehow testing them, allowing them to go through a trial to improve them. But that is not what God's word says about Him. It tells us that "When under trial, let no-one say "I am being tested by God" for with evil things God cannot be tried, nor does he He himself try anyone."

The answer to all our pains and our sadnesses is God's Kingdom. Remember the prayer that Jesus gave us? - "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be dne ON EARTH as it is in Heaven."

Great writing. Don't give up hope. There is a wonderful future for you. It is a gift from God.

I wish you "The peace of God that excells all thought."

Moomin