“Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:8-12 KJV)
My daughter, April and I recently went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. She had been anticipating its release since the Fall of 2011. Almost every week of November and December, April would remind me “Holmes is coming” and ask if I was excited yet. I was only excited about having a special “father-daughter” visit with my daughter.
April is a professional librarian and an avid reader, as well as an aficionado of Hollywood’s output. She warned me in advance, “Dad, there may be points in this movie where we won’t understand the action and how it ties in to the plot line, but we’ll get it as the movie progresses. It will be interesting to see how they develop this second movie in the ‘modern’ Holmes series.”
Well, as a Holmes fan, I must admit the movie was excellent entertainment, and true to April’s prediction, there were some confusing moments. It was fun to see the mystery unfold on the big screen with monstrous sound as we ate popcorn and drank Dr. Pepper. Without fear, we sat through the entire movie with no doubt that, despite what we saw on the screen, Sherlock Holmes would solve the mystery in the end.
Thinking of this event reminds me of how our Lord sometimes works with us. He doesn’t always let us know exactly what he is doing. He keeps the mystery alive and asks us to trust him. We may even wonder if he knows what he is doing. Yet, we are certain that he has “made known unto us the mystery of his will,” so we keep moving forward.
And of course, if we can trust a movie producer to move the plot successfully to a proper conclusion, can we not also trust that our God will conclude all mysteries for our benefit? “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 KJV).
Dear Father, thank you for making your will known unto us. Empower us to obey and trust you as you lead us forward. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be strong and of a good courage today following the mystery,