The Canvas of Life

December 26, 2007

By Greg Ebie

God is the divine Artist; our lives are the canvas upon which He paints. At times God uses a large brush, quickly covering the canvas of a day or week. At others, God is using a small brush to fill in details that may become evident over a lifetime.

There are many colors on His palette. We all enjoy the days when the divine Artist chooses the bright and cheerful colors, but days arrive when God dips His brush into the shades of grey.

Regardless of the brush or colors used, God always has in mind the completed painting of our lives. In those moments when we don’t understand God’s choice of a brush or color, we need to trust the Master who can see the whole picture.

In the pages of Scripture we are able to stand back and admire God's finished works. We see a larger picture in His Word that helps us make sense of things we don’t understand in our lives from day to day.

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 55:10-13, NKJV).

What is God saying? I think it’s fair to put it this way: “I’m the Artist. I know what I’m doing. Trust Me.”

-- D. Greg Ebie is senior pastor of Praise Assembly of God in Garrettsville, Ohio, and an author of Daily Bread devotionals.