Analogies

I read somewhere that we learn through analogies. Because we cannot fathom what we have not experienced, our human mind must compare what we have experienced to what we have not in order to comprehend.
For example, if you have never had your leg cut off, you have no idea what that would feel like. You can try to imagine, but you wouldn't really be able to comprehend what that pain would feel like (at least, I imagine it would be painful!) But if I were to tell you that getting your leg cut off felt like when your whole leg falls asleep after you've been sitting on it for 20 minutes or so and the whole thing is tingly and painful especially to touch. OK, I'm pretty sure it doesn't feel like that, but now you can imagine what it might be like to get your leg cut off, right?
So that's not the best analogy, but you get the drift.

This analogy is something I witnessed this weekend, and I want to share it with you.
We woke up Saturday morning to a white landscape and about an inch maybe two of snow. Everything, the brown ugliness of winter had been completely visible the day before. Now it was completely covered. Hidden by a beautiful, pure blanket of cold, white snow.
Just like the hideousness of our sin is so visible. And Jesus' blood covers it all. Completely hiding it from the eyes of God. And so all He sees is that beautiful, pure, white righteousness that covers His child. Our sin is invisible to God because of the forgiveness He provides. And the grace He gives as a gift, in exchange for nothing, that allows us to be close to Him, no longer separated from Him by sin.
Listen to this song.

Now I want to share with you a perspective, an attitude, that I learned this weekend and that I choose to develop and use in my own life.

Our Disciple Now speaker, Jay Lowder, made this statement about an experience he went through at some point in his life. I don't remember the experience, but the quote is the main point here.
He said, "God allowed me to go through that so later I could better understand this part of Scripture."
Honestly, I don't know what part of Scripture he was talking about either. The important part is that God understands that our minds are so finite and that we comprehend experientally. So God allows us to experience in order that we may place life in analogical terms and comprehend.
Whatever you're going through, whatever you're going to face in the future, and whatever has certainly happened to you in the past -- it was all because of God. He certainly was the author of your life. And it happened because He planned it. And He planned it so that you would understand Him better.

So next time I'm going through a difficult time. A joyous time. A period of waiting (ie. right now). I'm going to remember that God is allowing me to go through it so that later when I open up to a passage of Scripture, I can better comprehend the ridicule that Paul experienced, the physical pain that Christ endured, the joy with which David sang the Psalms, the awe and wonder that filled the disciples when they witnessed Christ perform miracles, the usefulness the boy felt when Jesus handed out his basket of loaves and fish, the shame that struck Peter when he denied his Lord and broke his promise, the jealousy God has for me...