My mom told me a great story a few nights ago…
A man and his wife live in Russia. They struggle to provide for their children and extended family. Finally, after months of scrimping and saving together, they have enough money to purchase train tickets. The family walks the miles to the train station, leaving in the middle of the night in order to arrive on time. The babushka (Grandma) carries the tickets for safekeeping. When they reach the platform, Babushka digs in her pocket for the tickets, only to discover that she has dropped them somewhere along the way. The father rushes back, desperately retracing Babushka’s steps. He stumbles in the darkness and fights the urge to panic.
Then, just as the sun peeks over the horizon, he spies something. An envelope. With a sigh of relief, he snatches it up and races back to the station, as fast as his feet can carry him. He pants as he runs, and his side aches, but he cannot stop. He knows there isn’t much time left before the train leaves.
He bursts onto the platform just as the caboose disappears around the corner.
Mere minutes later, there is an explosion in the distance. The train has been bombed.
There are no survivors.
Imagine how that family must have felt. One moment, it appears that all their hard work has been in vain. All the saving, all the hurrying, all the excitement and time… wasted. They have missed the train. The next moment, what relief and gratitude must have flooded their souls as they realized what happened, how narrowly they avoided death.
All because Babushka made a mistake.
We have all failed at things, made mistakes. We have all experienced hurts, inconveniences, and setbacks in our lives. They’re not fun. In fact, they can seem downright devastating.
But God sees the bigger picture.
Sometimes, we need to miss the train. To us, it might seem like the worst possible thing that could happen, because our scope is so small. But standing with us is the God of the universe, infinite yet personal. He can look ahead, around the corner, and see the danger we’re about to meet. Eventually, we realize that not getting what we wanted was a good thing, and He was looking out for us all along.
Because God sees the bigger picture.
So let’s save ourselves a lot of frustration and worry, and just trust Him.
