According to definitions taken from the realms of Google, the meaning of the word context is as follows:
Context: the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed (emphasis mine)
It seems I often misinterpret my present circumstances because I take them out of context. With no clear image of the whole, I look at portions of my situation like puzzle pieces scattered in disarray, taunting me to bring some semblance of order to them. Having no idea of how things should appear overall, I fumble and fudge my way, jamming ill-fitting pieces where they do not belong.
Taking fragments out of context and insisting they fit in another will ruin the entirety of the whole. Still, I seldom get past the thought that if it looks like it should work, I will make it do so . . . one way or another.
Without taking time to fully understand or assess the situation, I neglect that each piece has been crafted for only one particular place. By continuing to demand otherwise, I end up with a lumpy, abstract image instead of the smooth, beautiful masterpiece it was designed to be.
The same is true of life when we forget the One who dwells in each moment with us.
Taking things out of context can cause a lot of chaos in life. And in my heart.
Consider another scenario:
Crashing waves, roaring surf, a warming sun, solitude . . . all of these are characteristics that can be found in and near the ocean. And all of these can be either enchanting or terrifying, depending upon their context.
As a vacationer walking along the ocean’s edge, there is nothing more satisfying to me than experiencing the sound and sight of raging waves lapping against the shore with a blistering sun stretching its rays across my back. But if I were shipwrecked in the middle of that same ocean I enjoy from the safety of its shores, I would think much differently about those rolling waves and scorching heat.
So how do we handle places in life where peace and calamity coexist?
Where stillness and chaos crash simultaneously? Where tides can turn, and storms kick up in the blink of an eye?
Perhaps the answer is to be found in asking yourself this question: Who is in charge of your context?
Although I know the response should be, “God, of course,” I must admit to oft insisting on being master and commander of my own journey. Hence the frequency of the shipwrecks.
I neglect the very One who sees the full scope of my life with clarity because I’m too busy bustling about in the crow’s nest, searching with an out-of-focus spyglass in hopes of avoiding the very shoals into which I continue to crash.
I neglect to rely on the One who formed the setting for the events of my life. I forget He has the full assessment of how it is to turn out.
There may be no searching of His understanding, but rest assured, God understands.
Even when I do not.
Even when I find myself cramming things into my life like so many puzzle pieces.
Even when I’ve “damned the torpedoes” and went full speed ahead into an obstacle God was warning me to avoid. (Make no mistake about it, a victorious David Farragut, I am not.)
When I find myself at odds with how things appear and the all-too-familiar temptation to run amuck runs rampant in me, I must remember the context of my present moment in light of eternity. And in the scope of God’s reach.
It is also imperative to adjust my course accordingly.
To cease striving and forcing my way through life, and to allow Father to pull me from the surf and set my feet to journey alongside His own.
At His pace.
To trust He is in the context, whether blue skies or stormy seas. And to know He will guide and deliver me still.
Through it all.
From this day forth.
Into forever.
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FOR REFLECTION
If you are anything like me, you may find yourself often neglecting the overall context of your present circumstances. How do you handle those places in life where peace and calamity coexist? Are you quick to turn to Father and thank Him for His sovereignty over the best and the worst of your life? Or do you scramble to discard portions of the masterpiece He is forming in you, hoping to escape the hurtful parts of the process?
No one likes the valleys of suffering. Or pain. Or grief. And yet, these are the places God dwells as undoubtedly as He reigns on the mountaintops where all is sunny and warm.
Today, I pray you look to Father and acknowledge that He is in the context of your life — wherever it finds you at this moment. May you yield in surrender and give thanks for His presence, even if it comes alongside a trial you prefer to avoid.
He is with you, beloved. Take some time to notice Him there. And open your hands to grasp His as He guides you to safety once again. Even if it does not come instantly.
What is one way that you can trust God with your present circumstances today?