Greater Unseen

“Sometimes it is not so much about the task at hand as it is about the heart of the hand.”
Loren Thornburg

In Santa Fe Mexico there lies a miraculous spiral staircase that was made around 1880 without the use of glue or nails, but only square wooden pegs. There is no means of support and yet it makes two complete circles. It has since become a landmark to which thousands of people have come to marvel at its mystery. There has even been a movie made about it, appropriately titled, ‘The Staircase.’ In the movie it has come to one of the sisters God’s call to build a staircase. This call didn’t come without obstacles and times that she felt a failure because it seemed the staircase had become an impossibility. Yet it seems through the struggle towards the staircase that there was something greater being built…her faith! Sometimes it seems we are so focused on the task at hand that we miss what is going on within us. Something so much greater than the task. In the movie the task was completed and many today are still marveling at this phenomenon. For the sister something greater was being produced within her…a restoration of her once broken faith!

“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
1 Peter 1:7 NLT

The Apostle Peter is writing to encourage those who are being persecuted for their faith. Although my struggles may look different I find myself in need of the same reminder of encouragement and challenge. The challenge is to remain strong through the struggle, endure through the pain, and keep on though there seems no end in sight. The encouragement is that there is joy ahead and there is a reason for the trials we are facing. The trials are doing something not only on the outside but even more on the inside. Even more than that which you see, there is something being produced that you can’t see which is in your faith. And that which you can’t see is far more important to God. It is that which you can’t see that will bring Him praise and glory. So remain, endure, and keep on for on the other side of these trials there is wonderful joy that you don’t want to miss.