GOD WEAVES OUR LIVES INTO A TAPESTRY OF LOVE
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“We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:10 –
Our lives are a tapestry of love woven by the hand of God. He is the Master Weaver creating a beautiful masterpiece. He weaves all our experiences together into a work of art… a tapestry of our lives. The threads are carefully chosen and perfectly placed. Colors range from the vivid to the subtle… the bright to the dark… the sparkling to the subdued. All are expertly sewn together for magnificence.
We see only the underside of God’s tapestry… the jumbled threads, the knots, the missed stitches, the mistakes. To us it may appear far from beautiful. In our impatience, we may try to pull at the threads to make the tapestry prettier. Perhaps we try to add new threads of our own to the pattern, hoping to improve its appearance. Or we may try to weave our own novice stitches into the tapestry, creating our own designs. Yet our attempts do not have the artistic touch of the Master Weaver. He lovingly corrects our misguided efforts, weaving all into His intricate masterpiece.
“Make the Tabernacle from ten curtains of finely woven linen. Decorate the curtains with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim.” – Exodus 26:1
We see God as the Master Weaver in the lives of the Israelites. He wants His people to remember Him in their forty years of wilderness wanderings. The Holy Tabernacle is where Yahweh dwells among them and where He communes with His chosen ones. The Tabernacle travels with the people as they follow the leading of their God.
On Mount Sinai, Yahweh gives Moses His heavenly blueprint… detailed plans for the Tabernacle. Artisans are chosen to weave the beautiful curtains that are to line the Tabernacle’s interior space. These curtains are decorated with cherubim skillfully woven into the divine design. Cherubim, angelic beings, symbolize the holiness of God.
God’s choice of colors for His dwelling place all point to the coming Messiah. Each one foreshadows the glory of Christ. Finely spun linen is expertly embroidered with threads of blue, scarlet and purple. The fine white linen symbolizes the purity, holiness and righteousness of our Savior.
The blue thread, the color of the sky, symbolizes heaven. The Son of God is heavenly in His origin and nature. For the One who comes from heaven is above all (John 3:31). The scarlet thread symbolizes mankind and the blood of sacrifice. The Son of Man left heaven to come to earth. The Lamb of God laid down His life as a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:6). His perfect sacrifice atones for the sins of mankind… past, present and future.
The purple thread symbolizes royalty, the color of kings. Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords over all of heaven and earth. As Isaiah prophesied… “the Lord is our King; it is He who will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). The color purple is created by mixing blue and scarlet together… symbolizing Jesus as altogether fully God and fully man.
“They beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into threads, to work it in with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, into artistic designs.” – Exodus 39:3
Threads of gold are woven into the Israelites’ priestly garments. The golden threads symbolize the divinity of Christ. Jesus our Savior is the golden thread that weaves all Scripture together. He is the love that God weaves into the tapestry of our lives.
These colored threads symbolize our journey of salvation. Before we were saved, we were scarlet or earthly. When we are united with the blue of our heavenly Savior, we become purple… priestly, royal children of God. We are clothed with the pure white holiness and righteousness of Christ who is the golden thread that weaves our lives together.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11
Corrie ten Boom, survivor of the Nazi Holocaust and faithful follower of Christ, shares of the tapestry of God. Speaking before a group of children, she shows them the backside of a tapestry with its hundreds of strings tied in knots. It appears jumbled, tangled, random… with no pattern, no design. She explains that from our limited, earthly perspective we question what God is doing in our lives. She then proceeds to turn the tapestry over to reveal a beautiful crown of gold adorned with jewels…
“This is what God sees… from His perspective… a masterpiece!” – Corrie ten Boom
The colored threads of God’s tapestry are expertly woven into our lives by the Master Weaver. Just as He chose the perfect colors to adorn His Holy Tabernacle in the wilderness, so He chooses from His infinite palette the perfect colors to depict our life experiences. Colors of beauty mark our joys… colors of sadness mark our sorrows… colors of brilliance mark our triumphs.
We may at times question whether God has a divine design or purpose in mind for us. Our life’s tapestry appears jumbled… full of knots, mistakes and loose ends. Yet we do not see from His heavenly viewpoint. We can only trust His perfect wisdom, artistry and expertise. One day, we will see God’s tapestry that He has so lovingly woven for us. It will be a beautiful masterpiece.
