This I Know: Trusting In God When You Don’t See the Whole Picture

By Pastor Carol McKey

Several weeks before Mother’s Day, our son moved to Alaska. He accepted the position months in advance. I was doing well with this until the time came for the actual move. I went as far as dreading Mother’s Day because I knew my son wouldn’t be home and I’d miss him. 

I was actually anticipating how painful Mother’s Day would be this year. But when I said that out loud one day, the Holy Spirit started dropping in my spirit how ridiculous it was to speak so much negativity instead of speaking out God's grace.  

Sadly, we often lean more towards negative thoughts and anticipation of hurt instead of trusting God when things go wrong. We get in our heads and try to lean on our own strength, which in itself is a problem. Shifting my focus to others helped me move forward.  

Taking Steps Forward to Find Your Victory

If you only focus on yourself and what you're missing, you'll never take steps forward. I found my victory when I began to think about others, and I haven't chosen to stay in that pit I was letting myself dig into. When we come across those moments in our lives, we must return to what we know – God’s grace is abundant. 

No matter what happens in my life, I know that God is good. I know that He does not make a mistake. I know that God is for me. Even when awful things happen, I know that God shapes those for my good. One of the greatest reminders that we need to trust God against all circumstances is in the book of Habakkuk. 

Habakkuk was lamenting because he was not happy with the circumstances around him. So, he was complaining and practically whining to God. In the first chapter, Habakkuk was doubting God because of the circumstances he saw around him.  

Habakkuk 1:2 NKJV – “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even cry out to You, “Violence!” And You will not save.” 

Most of us have prayed this prayer during the toughest parts of our lives. We’ve asked God to show us the result; we’ve even asked for the ETA on that result. We’ve cried out to God asking how much longer the suffering would be. With every tragedy we witness, we wonder how much longer our world is going to look like this. We’ve cried out, “God, how long will this last?” But God answers Habakkuk’s same question.  

Habakkuk 1:5-6 NKJV – “Look among the nations and watch—Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.” 

God is working things behind the scenes that we wouldn't even know. He is doing things in our lives and in our world that we can't see. God says you would not even understand or believe it if He told you.

It's okay to question God when you don't understand. Even Jesus asked, “Why?” while He was on the cross. It's okay to ask why. We just have to do what Jesus did right after that. He committed His spirit into God’s hands and trusted Him.  

Habakkuk 1:13 NKJV – “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on those who deal treacherously, and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?”

Trust Him Even When You Don’t Understand

You may do all the right things, and still feel like success eludes you. You may wonder why you’re not getting that promotion or recognition despite following and serving God. You may not understand why one person had their loved one healed and yours went to heaven. God says to wait.  

Habakkuk 2:2-3 NKJV – “Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” 

It's important to write down what God speaks to us because we sometimes get in a dark place and forget what He said. We forget the promises He made to us when we’re in those dark places. Sometimes we need to write those visions down so that we have a reminder when doubt creeps in. God said it in his word – write down the vision and make it plain. Understand what you're believing Him for. Then wait and see what He can do.  

Habakkuk 2:1 NKJV – “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.” 

We must be willing to wait on God, but that doesn’t mean just sitting idly. While you wait, serve and trust Him to show you what to do. You’ll begin to think about others more than yourself. Habakkuk asked God for understanding and then waited for His response.  

We need to be willing to get still and see what God will say to us instead of trying to fix things. Sometimes we ask God to move on our behalf and then we don't even wait to see what He wants to do. We start doing it all ourselves, and sometimes we mess it up. Habakkuk eventually embraced God's goodness, just as we should. 

Habakkuk 3:17-18 NKJV – “Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” 

Even though nothing has changed on the surface or is maybe even worse than before, Habakkuk vows to rejoice in the Lord. He recognizes that the Lord is his strength. We have to recognize where our strength comes from. We must recognize that we won’t always see all the results. 

God Has All Pieces to the Puzzle

We don’t always have God’s big picture for our lives because we can only access one small piece of the puzzle. And so, we have no way of knowing where that one piece of the puzzle will fit in our journey. And yet, we often make life-or-death assessments based on that one piece. 

We determine God's goodness and our future based on only one puzzle piece. We let this one piece determine our joy, peace, and how much we trust God. We don't have the whole picture. Yet, we describe the picture and create our opinions about God based on only part of it. 

God has more pieces of the puzzle that we’re not seeing right now, and we must be willing to trust Him with the rest of those pieces. He is doing so much more, but we’re only seeing it from one perspective. God has orchestrated big moves in your life. He has made provisions because He has beautiful things in store for you. But only looking at the one piece of the puzzle you are holding in your hand won’t show that. It may not even look very pretty if that's all you look at. 

So, make the conscious decision to focus on the beauty that God is creating in your life and trust in Him. When God is orchestrating your life, only good can come from that. He will take care of all those other puzzle pieces you don’t see.  

When my son was preparing to move I had a couple of days where I couldn't get my mind off everything I was going to miss. Finally, God spoke to me one morning. He said, “Why did you decide to stop trusting Me in this?”  

It was at that point I decided to rely on God’s strength instead of mine. Once it's time, God gives grace. I wasted precious time anticipating missing my son for the two weeks before he left than I have in the two months he's been gone because I was relying on my own strength then.  

We must decide to trust God with this one piece of the puzzle because He is doing something so beautiful in our lives. We have to stop trying to figure everything out and trust Him. We must stop fixating on what we’re missing from this one puzzle piece and expect to see the beauty He is orchestrating for us and our loved ones.  

This same principle applies to our view of others. We need to look at others with a willingness to trust that the same God who works all things for our good, desires to work good in their lives as well. God may just need me to speak life and represent His goodness to them rather than judging them. God needs us to give them some grace because He is still putting together a lot of pieces of their puzzle.  

We don't need to limit our view of God based on this one piece we can see. When I get a “no,” it’s important to remember the “yeses” I have gotten in the past. It’s important to remember all the times God has been faithful and all the gracious things He has done for me.  

He has saved, healed, and delivered me. He has provided for me and has given me peace. How many times has He done that? And yet, people sometimes walk away from God because of one piece that isn't very pretty. One puzzle piece alone can frustrate you, but God can put all the pieces together if you allow Him. He can make something that's more beautiful than you can imagine.  

He is working all things for your good, and we must trust that He's going to weave those broken pieces in our lives together. God can make the Plan B of your life even more beautiful than Plan A. We often limit God to what we can do and where we can see, but He's a limitless God. He can work even those bad things for your good and create a masterpiece. 

Habakkuk doubted, waited, and finally embraced God's goodness. That's exactly what we need to do. It’s time to let whatever hurt is plaguing your life go, and trust God with it.