I set up our puzzle table yesterday—a tradition for Christmas break we started last year. I’m looking forward to the challenge and relaxation provided by finding the missing pieces. Last year, I was surprised to learn that puzzles bring out my competitive nature. There were moments I had to walk away and calm down because I had tried to find one missing piece for hours and nothing fit. I knew if I walked away, I’d come back with a new perspective. Sometimes I’d see the missing piece immediately…other times it might take days. Whenever I found it, I’d feel a great sense of peace.
I think I was in my late twenties when I realized that the entire Old Testament is a journey to finding the Missing Peace…a journey to Jesus. From Adam & Eve, to Ruth & Boaz. From Abraham and Sarah to Hannah and Solomon. From Moses to Joshua. From Noah’s boat to the walls of Jericho, there was no shortage of puzzles for man to solve. Anytime they tried to solve them with worldly wisdom, anytime they tried to cram the wrong piece into a tight spot, anytime they chose human understanding and short sightedness over faith, they stumbled, fell, and lacked peace.
When they stepped back and viewed their situation with eyes of faith…eyes fixed on the Lord, they faced adversity with hope, peace, endurance. and victory. David brought down Goliath, the Red Sea parted, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. Before the angels sang announcing His birth, before the shepherds approached, before the wisemen presented their gifts, before Jesus lay in a lowly manger, taking on human form as our Missing Peace, these faith hall of famers believed and trusted, and found their Savior in a tight spot.
We live in a unique time. Now 2000+ years after Jesus was born. He came, He lived, He loved, He died to save us and set us free, and now we wait for Him to return in full glory. We don’t have to wonder if He will come to save us, it is finished. What a gift! We have to remember to look in the rearview mirror by reading God’s Word. We have to take time to read, and hear, and listen…really listen, and pray so as not to forget all that God has done. As we look at the puzzle of each day, we have to let Him be our Missing Peace.
I have fallen into the trap many times of thinking I know what my life will look like—wanting all the pieces to be in a neatly packaged box with a picture of the life I imagined on the front. Wanting to take control and force a piece where it doesn’t yet belong—believing it’s up to me to sort out all the pieces and put them together. What a relief to know that God has always known where each piece goes and will place it where it belongs at just the right time. Anytime I feel like a piece is missing, I need to look no further than Jesus to fill that spot and hold me together. He has broken down my walls, He has conquered my giants, He has parted my seas in the past and He will continue to do so in the future. What I may view as a puzzle, He views as a mosaic, lovingly designed so I might know and trust Him more.
