👣 Seeing God in Hindsight

 I was thinking about how we see God in hindsight—just like Moses in Exodus 33. God said, “You cannot see My face, but you shall see My back.” And truly, when I look back, I see His goodness. I see Him.

I see His goodness and I know: He is the LORD, the LORD God.

In His sovereignty, I see my protected self.
My surrounded self.
How everything has worked out for my good self.

In all His goodness, I see His graciousness—
His graciousness to my reckless self,
my no-condom-wearing self,
my criminal, in-and-out-of-prison self.

In His goodness, I see His mercy—
His mercy to my unmerciful self,
my murder-committing self,
my not-deserving-to-ever-get-out-of-prison self.

I see His goodness in the slowness of His anger—
toward my foolish self,
my prideful self,
my wasting-my-inheritance-on-riotous-living self.

I see His goodness in the abundance of His love—
His love toward my unloving, unforgiving self,
my selfish self.

And I see His goodness in His faithfulness—
His faithfulness to my unfaithful self.
For He cannot deny Himself.

This is who He is.
This is how I know Him.
This is how I see Him.

I look back and see that His goodness and mercy have followed me all my life.

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