The Old Testament is full of accounts about people such as Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Nehemiah and Daniel, just to name a few who were used by God to accomplish His purposes or will. These people experienced real events in their life of which when experiencing the event many times it was not pleasant and sometimes it was life threatening. But whether what they were experiencing was a blessing or an unpleasant challenge it was always a part of something bigger than them at the moment it was happening. Everything they experienced was always part of God’s bigger picture or plan and His greater purposes.
In most of these Old Testament saints’ lives, the fifty to eighty years they lived, all that they experienced was a small piece and continuation of God’s bigger picture and purposes that He had started centuries before they were born and which even continued to become a reality in other people’s lives many centuries after. What these Old Testament saints experienced in their short life in God’s timeline was like a single link in a chain of the plan and process of God fulfilling His purposes in and through their lives.
When we read the Biblical account about these people lives, with some, we are only getting from God a very small portion of what lead up to the life of the individual we read about. The Bible does not always give us a detailed account of every ancestor’s or even the parents lives of most of these well-known Old Testament characters. Nor does the Bible give us a detailed account of most of the lives of these saints when they were children up to early adulthood. What little information we have in the Bible of these persons and others, is that God knows what is important and tells us just enough for us to see His immediate and greater purposes.
One good example is Daniel. The Bible does not mention the names of Daniel’s parents nor does the Bible give any information about Daniel’s childhood, but it is clearly seen by Daniel’s statements and actions, that Daniel knew very well who God was and what His word said. So much so that as a teenager taken captive, Daniel faithfully was able to make the right decision and not eat the king’s food that was offered to him and his companions. Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine
Many times, it is obvious when the many different situations good and or bad were being experienced in the lives of these saints, that they did not recognize at the moment that it was part of God’s immediate will and bigger purposes for the future. An excellent example is Joseph and his dreams, at the age of seventeen he was completely misunderstood when he told his brothers and father about them. Genesis 37:5-11, 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
For from the age of seventeen (Gen. 37:2) to the age of thirty (Gen. 41:46) Joseph experienced many difficult trials one right after another, which most likely caused doubt and probably took away any understanding and hope of God’s purpose in his life because of the harsh situations he was experiencing. It was not until at least fourteen years later, that Joseph looking back, was able to understand God’s purposes for his life in spite of all the misunderstanding and hardship he experienced. Joseph confidently knew that he was where God wanted him to be, accomplishing God’s purpose for his life. Joseph was able to see and understand God’s bigger picture.
Joseph speaking to his brothers, Genesis 50:19-20, 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
When studying the accounts of the birth of Jesus and His infancy as recorded in Matthew chapters 1:18 to 2:23 and Luke 1:26 to 2:40 and putting the two accounts in chronological order, we can also see the continuation of God’s bigger picture and purposes that He had started centuries before Jesus’ birth.
- Jesus’ Birth Foretold, Luke 1:26-38 7. Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem, Luke 2:1-20
- Mary Visits Elizabeth, Luke 1:39-45 8. Jesus Presented at the Temple, Luke 2:21-38
- The Magnificat, Luke 1:39-45 9. The Visit of the Magi, Matthew 2:1-12
- John Is Born, Luke 1:57-66 10. The Flight to Egypt, Matthew 2:13-15
- Zacharias’s Prophecy, Luke 1:67-80 11. Herod Slaughters Babies, Matthew 2:16-2
- Jesus’ Conception and Birth, Mat. 1:18-25 12. Return to Nazareth, Luke 2:39-40
What God started centuries before Jesus’ birth can be clearly seen by all the Old Testament prophecy that was fulfilled. The following three Old Testament references are just a small example. 1. Messiah’s Becoming a Man, Isaiah 9:6. 2. Christ Birthed by a young, Virgin Woman Isaiah 7:14. 3. The Messiah Born at Bethlehem Micah 5:2, 4-5.
When we read Luke 1:26-38 we see that the angel Gabriel told Mary very little of the details of God’s purposes concerning the son that she was going to give birth to, God had His reasons not to tell her everything. What she was told at that moment about the baby was sufficient.
As we read in the Gospels about thirty years later Mary would experience and gradually understand who her baby grew up to be, but most importantly as Jesus was fulfilling God’s will or purposes for His life, Mary very likely came to realize God’s purposes in her life by all good and bad that happened months before and months after the birth of Jesus.
We read in the gospels Mary was submissive to God’s purposes for her life before Jesus was born, but we also read in Acts 1:14 that after her son’s death she continued as a faithful follower of the Christ her Savior.
As you and I are devotedly and submissively following Christ, and nurturing and growing in our relationship with Him, we might not understand why we have in the past and or even right now, are experiencing blessings and or hardships, or maybe even feeling that God is not doing anything in our lives. What we need to realize is, if we are having difficulty not being able to recognize and understand God’s purposes by what He has done and is doing in our lives (seeing the big picture), we need to seek God for discernment.
My prayer for all of us is that we always realize whatever we have experienced in the past and or are now experiencing in our lives, is just a very small part of God’s bigger picture and purpose for our lives.
Pastor John
John 12:23-26
23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.
