The Big Picture is a needlepoint.

I was talking with a friend this week about the nature of God. They had a big question.
Why do bad things happen to good people? God is a God of justice. Where is the justice in this? How can I follow a God who causes bad things to happen?

God does not cause bad things to happen, but God will allow bad things to happen. The book of Job is a great example. God allowed the devil to bring problems to Job.

The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger." Job 1:12 (NIV)
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life." Job 2:6 (NIV)

Why would God even allow bad things to happen to us. We are His children. Why would anyone allow anything bad to happen to their kids? God knows this truth: strength, character, stamina and determination are built when we are tested. Who we are comes from what we have gone through. We are shaped by the good things in our lives, parents, family, friends and education. We are also shaped by the troubles we encounter.

There is a second part to this, only God can see the big picture. We are part of God's plan. Only God can see and understand the whole plan. Life is like needlepoint. When you look at the front you can see a beautiful picture. If you look at it from the back, it is not beautiful and it doesn't make a picture. We can only see the back of the picture. We won't see the front until we are with God. I think it will be really cool to finally see the picture. To understand why I met Joe when I was 21 and how God used all my mistakes. To understand why Paul died at age 13 from cancer. To understand why Hitler was born. To understand sunsets. To understand mountains. To understand babies.

Don't let yourself be distracted by other people. We need to be helpful to our brothers and sisters. However don't let their whys stop you from growing. Don't let youself get so caught up with someone else's problems that you stop growing.

Patience

So don't get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the "Well done!" of God. 1 Corinthians 4:5 (Msg)

Patience... I can't think of any mistake or problem in my life that a little patience would not have fixed. Every big mistake in my life can be traced back to running ahead, looking before I leap or getting ahead of myself. When I run on “my time” things turn out bad. When I work on God's time the most amazing things happen. When I work on God's time I make giant leaps forward.
So, have you got this down? Just wait and all things will come to you. I've got it. I will just wait on God from now on.
There is only one little problem. I have learned something else. Whenever I think I have everything figured out, I'm wrong. I tend to think of God's time being slower than our time. It may be, but the correct statement is “God's time is different than our time”. I think it is easier to see the difference between our time and God's time when God's time is slower than our time. It is easy to see when you should have waited or to wish you would have waited. It is harder to see a missed opportunity when you miss it and nothing happens.
There is other problem with just waiting on God. We can't be ready for great things if we don't learn and grow. If all we ever do is sit and wait nothing will ever happen because we are not ready.
So what do we do? Prayer and study is the answer. Prayer and studying God's word is how we get to know about God. This is how we learn what type of person He is. The better we know someone the easier it is to work with them. Talk to God(pray). Learn about God(study the bible). The more you know God the easier it will be to see where he is leading.