Missing the Forest for the Trees

By David Peters

© July 30, 2006

Do you know what it means to miss the forest for the trees? Do you know what that expression means? It is an expression that is used when someone concentrates so closely on the details of something, that they miss the bigger picture. It is like standing too close to a painting. We can’t really appreciate the painting’s beauty when we stand right up next to it. We can’t see what the lines form to make, what is being depicted, or what emotions it is trying to evoke. We are just overwhelmed at it, straining our eyes to see something in the painting at all. We seem to do this a lot when it comes to faith. We concentrate so hard on what we think that God expects from us that we forget to look at the bigger picture of who God is. We find ourselves feeling overwhelmed at the task God has given us as people of faith. Overwhelmed and unsure, even though God just wants us to know who he is.

We concentrate so hard on what God expects from us, because that is what we are used to. We live in a culture where a person’s value is defined by what they do. A person’s worth is dictated by how they spend their time. Think about it. When we first meet someone, one of the first questions we are usually asked is what job we have. People don’t often ask us how we define ourselves. They say, “so, what do you do?” The same thing holds true on Monday morning when we go back to work. People ask, “so what did you do this weekend?” How good the weekend was depends on what we did. This is not just something that happens in casual conversation either. When we apply for colleges, the applications all ask about what we have done- what extra-curricular activities we have participated in, what GPA we have achieved, and what types of jobs we have worked. When we are up for a promotion, the boss wants to know what we did to deserve it. When we are getting ready to retire, people want to know what we did for the company. Our value is defined by what we do- how we spend our time, what we have done in the past, and what plans we have for the future. And this is often the criteria that we apply to other people as well. Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “wow, this is a wonderful person. Look at all the wonderful things that she did in her life.” Or “look at how much he has achieved in such a short time period.” Or even, “well, what has this person done for me lately?” Even though we know that there is more to people than just the actual actions that they take, we as a culture define people by what they do. We evaluate people based on what they have achieved. We gauge people on the quality of their works. Sure, people’s feelings, intentions, and perspective may account for something. But we mainly want to know what that person has done. And if the number of good things that they have done outweighs the number of bad, then we say that that is a good person. You see, it is all about what we do in this society. We don’t care so much about who a person is. We want to know what they have done. Action is everything.

And this behavior carries over into our evaluation of God too sometimes. Maybe we get caught up only in what God has done too. In Genesis, when we read how God created everything, we think, “wow, God is great! Look at all the wonderful things he created!” We don’t focus on God himself. We focus on what God has done. When we look back over the gospels, we see Jesus healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and sticking up for the poor, and we say, “wow, Jesus was a great guy! Look at all the amazing things that Jesus did!” Cool! Neat! Jesus is a good person in our book, because of what he did. We look at Jesus’ actions, and forget about Jesus himself. Even when we talk about the cross, we talk about what Christ accomplished in his death. We talk about how Christ died to take away our sins. We cut right to the chase. We are quick to talk about the implications of Christ’s death. Action is everything. We want to talk about what Jesus has done.

So when we come across two stories like the ones in the gospel reading, again, we stand in awe of what Jesus has done. We look at the actions of Jesus in these stories. We look at how Jesus made enough bread and fish for five thousand people to eat, and we say “boy, Jesus must be powerful! What a neat trick!” We do a similar thing when we hear about Jesus walking on the water. We are amazed that Jesus had the power to do this. We stand in admiration of the miracle itself, just like we would at a piece of artwork or a valuable artifact. Hey, that’s pretty neat. Then we move on to the next story. We never really look at the story any deeper than what is on the surface. We look only at the works that Jesus does here. We look at the miracles themselves. We look at how amazing the action itself is. We stand in awe of the miracle. We forget about Jesus, and look at what he has just done. We approach God the same way that we do everybody else in life. We look at God’s actions. We don’t look at what the story is trying to tell us about who God is. We look at what God has done.

Now you may be asking yourself, what is so wrong with being impressed with Jesus’ power? I mean, after all, we are supposed to be believe in an all-powerful God, right? But the problem is that when we concentrate so heavily on the miracle itself, we fail to realize what the miracle tells us about God. We are so intrigued by what Jesus can do, that we fail to realize who Jesus is. We become like the people that try to crown Jesus in the story. After the feeding of the five thousand, the people try to make Jesus their king. They look at the amazing things that Jesus is doing, and they think to themselves, “this is a powerful person! He would make a great king!” Sounds reasonable, right? I mean, you would want a person who was powerful as your leader, right? Except, this runs counter to what God had sent Jesus to do. Jesus was put on earth to show people how to love God and each other. Jesus was sent here to repair the broken relationship between God and his people. Jesus was sent here to patch what sin had torn apart. He was not sent here to be a powerful ruler. The people miss the point. In doing these miracles, Jesus was not trying to show the people how much power he has. He is trying to show people who he is- God’s Son, sent to repair the broken relationship between God and the people that God loves so much. When we read these stories, sometimes we miss the point too. We are so amazed at the miracle itself, that we forget to look at what the miracle says about God. We blaze through the story, not taking the time to see anything more than what Jesus has done. In the midst of what Jesus has done, we miss who Jesus is.

And in these stories, if we go beyond the miracle itself, we find something deeply profound- God is our provider. Jesus is the one who guides us, and sustains us. Now this may not be that exciting at first. After all, throughout history, there were many kings that were good providers. We can probably think of some leaders in this country that have been good providers. Perhaps certain presidents that helped bolster the economy, so that more people would have adequate food on their tables. Maybe certain community leaders who worked for better schools, so that better education might be provided might be good providers. We can identify certain people that worked to help us meet our needs more easily. What made Jesus different from all these people was the fact that Jesus gave everything that he had, in order to make sure that his people got everything they needed. Jesus doesn’t just give people the left over bread and fish in the story, he takes all of what is there to provide enough food for everyone. Jesus doesn’t just help the people get out of the storm, he helps them get all the way to the shore. Jesus doesn’t just help people live their lives a little easier, he goes to the cross to help them achieve salvation. Jesus provides for us in a way that takes all of himself. He doesn’t just give, he gives all of it. And really, we shouldn’t be surprised at this. In the Old Testament, God provides manna to the Israelites to help them survive in the desert. God also provides for them a way to get out of slavery. The same God that provided food to his starving people in the Old Testament provides food for them in the New. The same God who provided a way out of the darkness of slavery for the Israelites provides a way for his followers to get out of the darkness and reach the shoreline. Jesus is the bread of heaven, and the one who leads us out of the darkness. Jesus is our provider, in the deepest sense of the word. God provides for God’s people. Jesus is our provider.

And it is not just that Jesus is our provider in some mystical sense. God is our provider in the realities of daily life. The Israelites in the desert and Jesus’ followers really were hungry. They really did need food. The people in the boat really were feeling scared. They really didn’t know where they were going. They were facing real problems, just like we face real problems in our lives. Poverty, starvation, hopelessness- these are the problems that God will help us face. The message of the story is that God will meet our real needs in the real world.

One of my colleagues at the hospital just recently lost his grandmother after a long battle with cancer. My friend watched his grandmother suffer through months of chemotherapy, and spend numerous days in the hospital. This was a tough road. It was a battle. After she died, my friend felt as though God had abandoned him- taken away his loved one, and left him there to suffer. After all, if God loved his people, why had he taken his grandmother away from him? The few days after her death left him questioning the God he had known all his life. But as he looked around, he began to notice something. He realized that whenever he needed to talk about his grandmother’s death or just needed to cry, he had his colleagues right there next to him- listening to him, and supporting him. Everyday, they would just ask how he was, and say something like, “I am praying for you” or “you are in my thoughts.” Over time, my friend realized that God had not abandoned him. God had not left him in his moment of need. God had provided his colleagues to love and support him. God had given him just what he needed- friends. When life was at its darkest, in the midst of death and feelings of defeat, God had provided people to help guide him to shore. My friend said just yesterday that he could not have made it through without the support of others. You see, Jesus is our provider. Not in some philosophical sense, or some metaphoric way. God is our provider, in the concrete realities of life.

So when we face darkness in our lives. When we face the pain of hunger, and the pain of life, the point of the story is that we should trust in God to provide. This is certainly not to say that God will provide in just the ways that we want or expect. After all, my friend probably wanted God to cure his grandmother. That’s what he wanted. That’s what he was looking for. God did not do this, but God did provide- in a way that helped him through, when he didn’t think he would make it. In a way that was gentle and comforting, when the world seemed harsh and cold. God did not provide in a way that my friend wanted him to, but God did provide. And God will provide in our lives as well. We cannot expect that God will provide for us in just the ways that we want. If we just look for God to provide happiness for us through a job, for example, then we may miss another way that God has provided for our happiness. Maybe our family, our friends, or our spouse have been put in our lives to provide for our happiness. If we look for God to provide for our spiritual edification through prayer, then we may miss another way that God is looking to satisfy us spiritually. We may miss the fact that God has been trying to nurture our faith through our daily reading of scripture, or through conversations with other Christians. If we concentrate just on the places where we think God should provide, we fall into our old habits. We miss the forest for the trees. But if we take a step back, we will see that God has provided for us. It may not be in ways we expect, but God has provided for us. God is our provider in the concrete realities of life.

It is hard to not just see the trees sometimes. It is hard to realize that God is our provider, especially when we live in a world that constantly measures us by what we do. Especially when the world seems so dark sometimes. But if we take a step back, we see that God has provided for us. God has provided for us in ways that move beyond what we expect. So we should trust in God to keep doing this. We should trust in God to keep providing. Not just for a little while. But for our whole lives. Until we reach the shore.