I recently came across a book called Zoom by Istvan Banyai. It begins with a picture of triangles, which turn out to be a rooster. As you turn the pages the rooster is actually a part of a photo in a book. And as you continue, the book is in the hands of a child, and the child is part of an ad on a bus. Eventually the entire scene zooms out so far that the image is of the earth.

This is similar to what we find in our text. Sometimes we get so focused on the image of the rooster that we miss the bigger picture. Life can be very difficult at times or even just plain boring. We have to endure all kinds of things here on earth — great love and joy, pain and trials, deep sorrow and mourning.

But God’s grace, mercy, and love are greater than we can ever understand. The hard times we have to endure are only a small part of a larger story at work.

By Katie Gilbert from D365