The Tapestry of Life
Sunday 13th April 2025
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counsellor?’
Romans 11:33-34 (NIVUK)
The Tapestry of Life
To know that God is both good and also in control of events is enormously comforting. It can mean, though, that we’re tempted to try and ‘read’ God’s providence, as if we can work out exactly what he’s doing in particular events.
One example from history should be enough to show how tricky that can be, and how we tend to read what we want to read into events. After the great fire of London in 1666 there was widespread agreement that it was God’s judgment on the people of London. Protestants believed it was due to the sins of the Catholics, while Catholics were convinced it was due to the heresies of the Protestants, and the Dutch (who were then at war with England) saw quite clearly that it was due to the sins of England as a nation.
We’re likely to think that God is for us when things go the way we want them to, and that he’s against us when things don’t go as we wished, when neither need be true. In the verses quoted above, the apostle Paul reminds us that God’s judgments are “unsearchable” and “his paths beyond tracing out.” We simply can’t work them out with any certainty – but that doesn’t stop us trying!
Paul himself displays the same humility concerning God’s providence when he writes to his friend Philemon urging him to release the runaway slave Onesimus from his slavery and welcome him back as a brother in Christ. He says, “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while, so that you might have him back for ever” (Philemon 15). Notice that he says, “Perhaps.” He’s not claiming to know, but rather making a suggestion.
The truth is that, “What we can see of God’s intentions is like the back side of a tapestry, where the pattern is difficult to discern. It is actually more like seeing a small piece of the back side of a tapestry of such vast size that it goes well beyond our field of vision” (Dick Keyes, Seeing Through Cynicism, from whom I got the material for this article). There is a tapestry – that we can be sure of – and thankfully it’s in the hands of a master weaver.
Prayer
Lord, I thank you that there is a tapestry, not only of my life but of all life, that it’s in your hands, and you’re weaving your purposes for your glory and my good. Help me to trust that you are both good and in control, even if I can’t see what you’re doing. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)