Switchback

February 26

“Life is not a straight line leading from one blessing to the next and then finally to heaven. Life is a winding and troubled road. Switchback after switchback. And the point of Biblical stories like Joseph and Job and Esther and Ruth is to help us feel in our bones (not just know in our heads) that God is for us in all these strange turns. God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ. ― John Piper, A Sweet and Bitter Providence


This is quite a life-impacting assertion! Although we certainly have made the same observation ourselves, perhaps it simply didn't have the ability to become a cohesive thought in our minds. Perhaps it took the depth of Piper's insight to clearly state what we had allowed to be a mere vapor of an idea rather than a complete concept.

Life is indeed a series of switchbacks and cris-crosses. It often seems that we no sooner traverse an area of challenge than we are required to plod through it again. We think we're progressing when in actuality we're really retracing our previous steps. If this is all part of God's plan to bring us to good—and Christ to glory—It sometimes seems to fall short of His intent. It seems we're losing ground instead of gaining it; it seems we're failing in our life's tests rather than winning them.

But if HE has a plan; if the cris-crossing and switching back have an intended purpose that HE will cause to result in our blessing, then we must assent to His work in us that, though it may be confusing in its progression must ultimately be refreshing and up-lifting in its outcome! And that is the work of faith that we must do along the way. When our minds tell us that our path is convoluted and abysmally lost, our faith tells us that God's guidance transcends our common sense, our logic, our sense of direction and our ability to grasp His purposes until HE is ready to unfold them!

As Psalm 33:15 tells us, “He who fashioned their hearts understands everything they do.” If we can ultimately emerge from our challenges and our trials as did Joseph (Genesis, Chapters 37-50), and Job (Book of Job), and Esther (Book of Esther) and Ruth (Book of Ruth), then we, too, shall certainly see His glory and appropriate His blessings. May we, as they did, hold fast to Him at every step, at every turn, at every switch-back along the way, knowing that JESUS IS FAITHFUL.