Hindsight is not always 20/20

Somebody once said that hindsight is 20/20.  I don’t think so.  I think we can still be blind as a bat without some well-fitted spectacles in the form of serious contemplative wisdom. I don’t know much (at all) about physics—that’s my brother the Purdue engineer’s department.  But I’ve heard there’s something out there called Chaos Theory.  I like that term.  I sometimes feel I’m the embodiment of it.  No need to take classes on that one, just come read my autobiography, which I haven’t written yet since I’m still living it.  As I’ve said before, my life seemingly doesn’t come in “seasons”; it prefers to come in “spasms”. 

Of which I will spare you the details…

But, really, we all go through it, I mean those times of chaos, upheaval, third-time-down emotional drowning and not sure how this one’s going to work out.  Or some folks call it a “wilderness” experience, a period of barrenness, bereft of friends, family, or even God (so they think or feel).

Then I get to that point (and it does come), when, turning around, I perceive either the hand of God in my circumstances OR I regard my “savior” as coincidences and chance decisions on my part laced with a bit of luck.

Here’s an example, not quite so easy to a priori relegate to mere natural causes:

“And when the dew had gone, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a fine, round and flakelike thing, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground.  When the Israelites saw it, they said one to another, Manna [What is it?]”

In fact, Manna was so important to seeing that God was involved in their circumstances, Moses put some of it in the special “hope chest” called the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder.  A reminder, that is, so that when God’s hand was not quite so easy to discern in their protection and provision, when they would be tempted to attribute their breakthroughs to other less sublime entities (and they did, many times, to their eventual peril), there would be no excuses. 

 Here’s another shot in the arm:

“He knows your walking through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”

This retrospection becomes a pivotal time in my life.  Right here, this moment when I look behind and interpret my past experience, because I am the one responsible for that interpretation.  No one else can do it for me.  It is mine alone, and I alone must see through it clearly and make the absolute best use of it…for eternity’s sake.

It may not be quite as obvious as manna (“what is it?”), but a little contemplation on my part will lead me to the same conclusion, (“how did THAT happen?!?”) and into a deeper appreciation for the unseen power that is engaged around me on my behalf. 

He really does wonders within my chaos.  It’s much more than just theory.

Exodus 16:14,15; Deuteronomy 2:7  Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation