Of Bugs on Books
Recently I’ve been meditating on the life of Francis Schaeffer. Not so much his apologetics or separationist tendencies, but more his meditative qualities; something often overlooked.
In her book The Tapestry, Edith Schaeffer quotes many of Francis’ meditations. Among them is one which has particularly struck me:
A bug crossed a learned paper.
Might not we too be crossing things
We cannot read?
How often do we plough through life oblivious to our surroundings, and the Hand of God. Proverbs 16:9 states that The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. While we pay lipservice to the sovereignty of God in all things, our lives betray that fact that we often don’t trust this doctrine as much as we say.
Yet, if God is truly at work, not only to save His people, but to sanctify them, then He is also truly causing all things to work together for the good of those who love Him, called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). There are no coincidences and the Hand of God ever envelops us.
Too often, we look to the Lord for salvation and then to ourselves for everything else. When we slip down this slope, we become just like that bug walking across a “learned paper,” blind to what might be learned from his circumstances. We must learn to live with the confidence that God truly does orchestrate or circumstances. Wherever we might be is where the Lord would have us. Our question then becomes, what would God have me to learn from where He has me to be?
