The Big Picture

We all have heard sayings like, "Can't see the forest through the trees." Others are out there but they escape me at the moment.

Basically, the concept is that if we only look at small part of the situation or object, it is very hard to get a grasp on the overall picture of what is around us. We then end up making accusations and conclusions based off of incomplete information.

And this is exactly what Satan wants us to do.

Many times, in church or in christian books or other situations we only get little snips from the Bible, you know, a verse here and a verse there. The problem comes when that verse is taken out of context. All of the verse's are part of a bigger story. If you want to know the meaning of a verse, read the 3 or 4 before it and the 3 or 4 after. Simple concept I know but I am getting to a point.

I recently had a heated discussion with a close friend on the different translations of the Bible. I was asked "Which one was the right one?" My answer, all of them.
See the argument was that given a single passage or verse in one translation will differ (in the wording) from another. If we only look at the Bible in this verse, microscope kind of way, it is very easy to begin to doubt that the meaning of the verse, the Bible, the word of God. The truth of what was meant when it was originally written gets lost.

And that is exactly what Satan wants us to do.

Satan does not want us to worship him, he wants us to not worship God. Once we do that, then he wins. And don't be fooled, Satan is out there, and deep down you know it.

In the end the most important part is to make sure that even if we don't understand what the Bible is telling us, that we accept it fully and know that God is the reason for EVERYTHING!

See God is too big to see if you use a microscope. Beauty is distorted the closer you look, or the more you try to dissect it, or the less you just believe. Because even a Picasso, or a Rembrandt is nothing more than just random brush strokes of you look at it too closely.

Matthew 15:1-9
1Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked. 2"Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
3Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' "

You see, Jesus saw that the Holy men of the time had lost site of what was important. They stopped looking at the big picture and started to break it down. Satan had come in and distorted their view of what God wanted.

Prayer:
Lord please help me to see the twists and doubts that Satan tries to insert into my life about You and Your word, for what they are. Please give me the vision to see the defiance and the strength to overcome it. I know Satan is a diligent worker and will not stop trying to take my faith in You away. Please Lord help me to open my eyes so that I may see Your big picture, and the wisdom to share that big picture with the world.
In Jesus name I pray,
Amen