When You Don’t Know the Whole Story

Friday evening, I was headed home after working in my room at church , getting everything ready for Sunday when my new kiddos will join me. My heart is so full and excited about what God will do during our time together this year.

But if I’m honest, there’s still an ache there too.

Selfishly, my heart hurts because Ms. Paula won’t be there with us.

I know God has a plan. I trust Him. I believe He is good.

And I still miss her.

Maybe that is one of the things I’m learning in this season. Trusting God and hurting can exist in the same heart. Faith doesn’t mean we don’t grieve what we’ve lost. Sometimes faith simply means we keep walking with Him while we do.

As I headed home, I looked up and saw the most beautiful rainbow stretched across the sky.

Immediately, I thought about Noah.

We all know the story, but tonight I found myself thinking about the details.

God told Noah to build an ark, but He didn’t simply say, “Build an ark,” and leave Noah to figure out the rest.

God was specific.

He told Noah what kind of wood to use. He told him how long, wide, and high to make it. He told him how to make the roof, where to put the door, and how many decks it should have. He told Noah to bring his family. He told him to bring the animals, male and female. He told him to gather food.

God was in every detail.

And then Genesis 6:22 says something so simple that I almost read right past it:

“Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”

Noah obeyed.

He didn’t have the privilege we have of knowing the rest of the story.

He was living it.

Board by board.

Instruction by instruction.

Day by day.

He simply did what God told him to do.

Then came the waiting.

The rain came. The flood came. The waters remained. Even after the rain stopped, Noah waited.

Eventually, God told Noah it was time to leave the ark. When Noah stepped onto dry ground, one of the first things he did was build an altar to the Lord.

He worshiped.

Then God established His covenant with Noah and gave him a sign of that covenant: the rainbow.

I wonder what Noah felt when he looked into the sky and saw it.

Relief? Gratitude? Awe?

Maybe all of it.

Because by then, Noah could look back at all those instructions God had given him and see something he couldn’t possibly have seen when he first started building the ark:

God knew exactly what He was doing.

Every detail mattered.

And maybe that is what I needed to remember tonight.

I don’t know what this next year will look like.

I know what I thought it would look like.

I know who I thought would be standing beside me and Ava.

And that part still hurts.

But I also know the same God who was faithful in every detail of Noah’s story is faithful in every detail of mine.

So maybe I don’t need to understand the whole story right now.

Maybe my responsibility is simply to be faithful with the instructions He has given me today.

Prepare the room.

Prepare the lesson.

Pray for the children and their families.

Love the children He sends through the door.

Open His Word.

Teach them about Jesus.

Pray for them, again.

Show up for them.

Love them well.

And trust Him with the parts of the story I cannot see yet.

Genesis doesn’t tell us Noah understood everything.

It tells us he obeyed.

“Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”

He didn’t know everything that was coming.

He didn’t know exactly how his story would unfold.

But he knew the One who had given him the instructions.

Maybe that’s the lesson God keeps bringing me back to.

I don’t have to know the whole story when I know the One who does.

I don’t have to understand every detail to trust that He is in them.

Years ago, I did a study on the names of God. One of the greatest truths I learned during that study was that who God is is enough for every need we will ever face.

This summer, our pastors taught through the names of God, and I don’t think that reminder could have come at a more perfect time.

Because this summer, I’ve needed to remember who He is.

And maybe today, you need that reminder too.

Does your heart need peace?

He is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace.

Are you facing something and you don’t know how it is going to work out?

He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord Provides.

Do you need strength greater than your own?

He is Jehovah Tsaba, the Lord of Hosts.

Is your heart hurting?

He is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord Who Heals.

Do you need to remember that you aren’t walking through any of this alone?

He is Jehovah Shammah, the Lord Is There.

Whatever your circumstances look like today, He is still God.

Circumstances change.

God does not.

That rainbow reminded me that God is still in the details.

He was faithful before the rain.

He was faithful during the storm.

He was faithful in the waiting.

He was faithful when the rainbow finally appeared.

And He is faithful now.

So as I prepare to walk into a new year that looks different than I ever expected, I’m holding tightly to that truth.

I can miss my friend and still be expectant.

I can grieve what was and still be grateful for what God is doing.

I can wish the story looked different and still trust the One writing it.

And I can keep doing the next thing He has placed in front of me, believing that one day I’ll look back and see His fingerprints in details I cannot understand today.

God knows the whole story.

I only know this part.

And for today, that is enough.

I’ll keep building.
I’ll keep loving.
I’ll keep serving.
I’ll keep trusting.

Because the God who was faithful to Noah is still faithful today.

The God who was everything Noah needed is everything I need too.

And He will be everything I need for whatever comes next.

The same is true for you.

You may not know the whole story yet.

But you can know the One who does.

Are you trusting God with your story, even in the parts you don’t understand yet?