Life is like a patchwork quilt. The fabrics and colours seem random and disconnected. Each day is different. We may engage in a similar routine, do the same things, keep to the same timetable, but no two days are identical. We follow the course of the days as they unfold.

Who holds the pattern for this patchwork existence that we blindly follow…not because we necessarily have no direction or purpose but because we cannot see beyond the moment? How is it possible for us not to shrink back in fear of the unknown, go to ground because we cannot face the next moment, or step into our day with apprehension because our next breath may be our last?

The ancient Hebrews had an interesting way of viewing the future. For them, unlike for us, the future lay behind them because they was unknown and they could not see it. Their past lay in front of them. They could view their lives to date from the pictures etched in their memories, draw lessons from their experiences, and gain assurance from their knowledge of God’s faithfulness in all their circumstances. The past, for them, was a record of life from which they could receive courage to face the unknown future.

From God’s Word, we learn that God has a pattern for each “patchwork quilt” He is fashioning. From His perspective, nothing is random or unplanned. He has written every page of our day before we step out of bed each morning.

Psalms 139:16 NLT
[16] “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”

This does not mean that God planned our faults and failures. It does mean that God saw and knew how we would live and what we would do and become. With His perfect knowledge, He ended them into the “quilt” He is creating.

God leaves nothing to chance. He has a perfect design for every “quilt”. So meticulous is He that He prepared the unique design for every life before He breathed one creative word into empty space.

Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
[4] “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. [5] God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”

Before time, God had every human in sight, lovingly preparing each design and setting it aside for its time and place in history. It is difficult for us to envision such a mind-boggling process. We are not God. We have no capacity to understand the intricate workings of the divine Mind. We can only read and believe what is incomprehensible because God said it and God wrote it!

Does this mean that God has a plan even for every child born out of wedlock? What of the millions of children who have no father, no home, no identity, no inheritance? Does He include them in His perfect design for every life?

What about people who live wasted lives, and die in shame? Did God plan it so for them? Did He purposely design their “quilt” in dark and ugly colours? What of those who have never heard His name? These are questions we cannot answer. Perhaps God puts them into the same category as Peter’s meditation.

2 Peter 3:9 NLT
[9] “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

What God desires will not always be. Many times, human perversity crashes headlong into divine purpose yet, somehow, God accomplishes His will on earth through people. It is not for us to figure out the details…only to choose for ourselves to live within the provisions and purposes of His Word. We cannot answer for another but we are accountable for our own destiny.

God’s Word and His assurances give us the courage to face our next moment without fear. We view our past with awe, seeing in it a hand so big and so secure that it has guided us unerring along every predetermined way. What of the serious mistakes we have made, poor judgments that have landed us in serious trouble, sin that has obscured our view of the Father and caused us pain and sorrow? Are these also part of the divine plan?

We can never blame God for our foolishness but, because of His Word, we can assert with absolute confidence,

Romans 8:28-30 NIV
[28] And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. [29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. [30] And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

Not only does He include the dark and dismal colours in His creation but, somehow, He also fashions them into our patchwork quilt to reveal a design of contrasts which reveal the beauty of His creative skill.

Only as we view our past can we recognise in it the hand and heart of the divine Craftsman. Only as we trust Him to work on His masterpiece can we step into each day confident of His love and His power to accomplish what He set out to do.

A startling day is coming! God will put all His glorious “quilts” on display. Even those who hated and opposed Him, all those minions who served in Satan’s army of rebels, will be forced to view and admire His handiwork.

Out of the blur of shapes and colours, will emerge His grand design…the face of Jesus overshadowing every human face!

In amazement, we will discover that those dark times od fear, guilt, and shame are the very contrasts God used to form His portrait of Jesus over our lives. We can look at our past from a new perspective, not with the regret we feel for our sin, but awe for the skill of the sovereign God. He blended the words and deeds of our old selves into the background of His grace to present His Son as the design of the finished product.

2 Thessalonians 1:4-10 NIV
[4] Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. [5] All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. [6] God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you [7] and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. [8] He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [9] They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might [10] on the day he comes TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS HOLY PEOPLE and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

Imagine that! Every fabric, shape and, colour God uses to fashion His quilts will reveal one overriding design, the image of Jesus! Throughout all the ups and downs in our lives, God is recreating His Son in us so that, in the end, we shall al be part of His forever family.

Hebrews 2:10-11 NIV
[10] “In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. [11] Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”