God, the master artist

I have always been interested in the way God engineers the events of life for his own purpose. Each occurrence by itself may have no particular significance, but combined with others it reveals God at work in our life for a specific purpose. The story of Peter's vision in Acts 10 is a good example.  
       Peter had gone up on the roof of the house to pray. In time he became hungry, and while he was waiting he “fell into a trance” (v. 10). A large sheet loaded with various kinds of “animals, reptiles, and wild birds” was lowered to earth and a voice said, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." Peter was shocked! He had never eaten anything that was ceremonially impure or unclean. The voice responded, “Don’t call anything impure that God has made clean.” Apparently Peter was a slow learner because the same thing happened two more times.
       While he was trying to make sense out of this, some of the men sent by Cornelius came to his house. Peter came down from the roof and asked the visitors why they had come. They answered, “A holy angel appeared to Cornelius and he sent us to learn from you whatever you have to say”. The very next day Peter returned with the men to Joppa. In the verses that follow (vv. 23b-48) we see Peter, a conscientious Jew, learning a strategically important lesson – He learned that God has no favorites, but "accepts from every nation those who fear him and do what is right" (v. 35). Due to the 2000 year history of the Christian faith that may not seem strange to us, but it certainly did to a first century Jew. Acceptance by God was no longer a matter of country or race – redemptive grace was extended to all.
       Beyond pointing out that the universal nature of Christ’s work on the cross, the text shows us again how God brings together the disparate events in our lives to fulfill his own purposes. Cornelius had a vision and sent men to Joppa to look a man named Peter. Peter had a vision teaching that God’s saving action was for all and went back to Caesarea. It all worked out according to the divine plan. 
       I am sure that there are times in everyone’s life when God takes
a series of events and arranges them in a way that fulfills his purpose. Here’s an example: I know a man (Call him man A) who experienced the following sequence of events in his life:

       Having just arrived at a theological seminary, man A saw a note inviting new students to a party on Friday evening. He decided to go.
       Another new student (man B) happened to go to the same party.
       For some reason, man A was playing a piano at the party and B heard him.
       Man B was going to audition for the choir master position in that same church the following Sunday so he decided to ask A to go with him.
       Man A accepted so B called his host and asked if he could bring A with him.
While waiting for dinner, man A saw a picture on the piano of a lovely young lady with two children. 
       The host explained that the picture was of the wife and children of his deceased son. During the following week he decided to have another Sunday dinner a week or so later and invite man A again. That way A could meet the host’s daughter-in-law and children.
       Man A and the young lady really enjoyed that next time together (luscious dinner and a long walk around Balboa Island), and six months later were married in the host’s house, followed by a honeymoon on his yacht, and financial help for the next 5 years of graduate school both here and abroad.
       Recently, Clarence and I had great time together reliving that early experience and reviewing our 66 years of friendship, he as a pastor, I as an educator.

Conclusion? God is at work in every detail of our life – good or bad, wise or unwise. He uses them all to create a new portrait of what he desires in and through us. Someone said that each of us is a portrait that takes a lifetime to paint and no two are the same. Each of us is genuinely unique. Trust God, the master artist, and don’t hide his brushes because he’s still got work to do on each of us. When it’s done he will come for all his “portraits” to take them home. What a beautiful gallery of messed up sinners who needed the artistic touch of the master artist.