Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
They say hindsight is 20/20. Now, if you've used this saying, you likely know that it's used to look back at an experience and point out all the ways that things could have gone better. One of my biggest “hindsight is 20/20” moments was when my wife and I were in our car going to a wedding of a very dear friend, and we were also newlyweds, so our car wasn't what you would call reliable.
The wedding was a good couple of hours away, winding through the mountain roads. That route was our only option to get there. We drove our unreliable car and sure enough we had some problems. But we made it. Then at the wedding, we were having a great weekend, but we decided to share our car with our friends as they ran errands for the wedding. They even asked us, is this actually safe to drive? We had just leaned on it for so long that we were like, yeah, it's good to go.
Then sure enough, on our way home from the wedding, our car started to make an awful sound—the sound that you just know the car is not going to go much further. I pulled off onto the side of the road, gave it a couple of minutes, tried to start it. Nothing. I hopped out of the car, popped open the hood, and it immediately started raining. I wasn't a car guy, and I just remember standing there looking up at the sky thinking, Lord, please let us get home. Thankfully He answered that prayer. We just made it home and that car never ran again.
When I think about that experience, I go, hindsight's 20/20. There are so many things that I could have done better. There are so many ways that could have gone better. Why did it have to go so wrong? Then I asked myself, maybe there's a different way to use hindsight, the kind that we read about in our Verse of the Day.
David's Hindsight
In 2 Samuel chapter 22, verse 31, David says, "God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection."
In this verse, David is lifting up a song of praise. He's nearing the end of his life, and we're told that he actually wrote this song when he was a young man. Then, before he dies, he goes back to it and he sings it again. What's so fascinating about this song of praise is when we know the history of David, we know that his life wasn't all that easy.
He was facing trial after trial. Enemy after enemy. He was the king on the run for most of his life. Yet, as he looks back, as he uses hindsight, he doesn't say, here are all the things that could have gone better. God, where were You? No, he looks back and he says, you know, in hindsight, everything actually worked out okay. Everything worked out just the way that God intended it to.
A Different Perspective
I wonder if we start applying hindsight to our lives like this, how our mindset would shift and change. Maybe we wouldn't always look back and go, God, where were You? God, what were You doing? God, why did You allow this to happen? But instead, we could look back and go, oh God, that's where You were. Oh, that's why You let this happen. That's what You were doing. It would give us such a deep appreciation of really understanding that the Lord holds all things in His hands, and He cares deeply for you.
My encouragement for all of us as we go about our days is to use that hindsight to build our faith, to use that hindsight to glorify God, to look back and say, Lord, all Your ways are perfect. You are a shield for me. Let's look back and thank God for all that He's done and all that He's going to do.
