“Hindsight is 20/20” is a saying that I learned as a kid. It means that once you make it through something, you could look back and see how you made it through. Looking back, you would have clear 20/20 vision.
I cannot wait for 2020 to be in our hindsight. 2021 isn’t promised to be better, although we can hope. But 2021 will give us a chance to look back and see in what ways God’s hands were active in our lives in 2020.
I encourage you to take out your Bible, open your web browser or pick up your smartphone and open your Bible app. I would like to guide you to Luke 7:11-17 -- Jesus Raises a Widow's Son.
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But I would like you to read it in two parts. First read verses 11-12, then read 13-17. Take a moment and stop after verse 12. Put yourself in the widow’s shoes. She was hopeless. She didn’t know verses 13-17 were coming. All she knew was that she was a widow and that now her only son was also dead. Who would take care of her? Her life was hopeless. Maybe she could stay with some relatives, maybe she could crash for a while at a friend’s house. She was left to live out her life on the generosity of others. How long would that last?
It was into this hopeless situation that Jesus stepped. He stopped the funeral procession, then He told her son to arise. There was no time for her to think about what was going on. As quickly as the water of the sea became calm at His words, the young man sits up and begins to speak. Jesus gave the young man back to his mother. Her situation was no longer hopeless. In her 20/20 vision she could see God’s hands at work, moving her from hopeless to hopeful.
There is a side to this story that is often missed. We rush to see Jesus raise the young man that we often overlook one very important part of the story. The widow’s son was dead! She was in mourning. There was nothing that could change her situation. It was utterly hopeless.
Here is the point. Sometimes God allows us to go through some hopeless times. Many of us are feeling hopeless as we approach the end of 2020. We have a way of believing that we are good and we deserve only good things. If we were truly good, then Jesus wouldn’t have had to come to save us from the punishment of our sin. This is the point. We need God. We need God in our lives, in our families, in the hospital rooms, in our schools, in our churches and in our country. Many have never learned that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 NIV). Many of us have lost sight of how much God loves us. He desires for us to be brought from hopeless to hopeful, giving us 20/20 vision on His love.
