The Bible is God's story. Though we tend to view it as isolated events, His story is really a tapestry with each thread fitting perfectly together creating the masterpiece which it is. This tapestry is comprised of individuals and events. Viewed in isolation we miss the big picture, seen in it's totality it all unfolds. The same is true for us as individuals and others. We often fail to understand why certain events are occurring around us, or happening to us. Because of this skewed and limited view we often make false assumptions and can lose hope. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:12, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." Common questions are, "Why does God allow such evil to happen to good people?" Common assumptions are, "I have fallen so far that God could never forgive me or use me." Or, "That person is so far gone that it's not even worth talking to them about Jesus, because they would never even listen or change."

Stephen did not plan for months the speech that he was going to deliver before the Sanhedrin. Full of the Holy Spirit he responded. Though the Sanhedrin could only see him as evil, and the One that he represented as evil, being guilty of missing the whole tapestry, Stephen took the time to weave together the story beginning with Abraham and bringing them through the prophecy of Jesus through Moses in Acts 7:37, "This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear." Throughout the story he used phrases like, in 7:9, "...But God was with him.", reminding them that God never left the scene and His story was still being fulfilled, as it reached it's pinnacle in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. If we then look at the life of Saul (Paul) we make the same mistake if we don't follow the entire story. The believers could easily have asked, "Why would God allow the seemingly senseless death of Stephen and the persecution of the church by Paul?" We can easily forget Jesus' commission to His followers in Acts 1:8, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Though His followers were preaching, etc, they were comfortable in Jerusalem and failed to disseminate His message beyond its confines. We read in Acts 8:1, "Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." This persecution resulted in the diaspora or scattering of seed necessary to spread the gospel message. In isolation it made no sense, but as part of God's perfect tapestry it all makes sense. The believers would look at Saul and ask why is this evil man thriving? Worse than that they would probably not want to waste their time with one who was so lost. But Paul's life was also a tapestry. Though it stated in 8:1, that he consented to his death, which implies he was a voting member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling group in Jerusalem, he was a tool in the hand of God to further the diaspora. When we get to Acts 9, then read the accounts of this man who appeared so lost and so beyond approach, we read the story of the man who though evil, was used mightily by God as he was the vehicle to fulfill the last portion of God's commission, to be His witness "to the end of the earth."

So, what about our tapestry. It is not completed until we breathe our last breath. Do we believe we have sinned so great or wandered so far that God could no longer use us? Consider the life of Paul or David, and realize that God is not finished with us unless we decide we are finished with Him. Do we make that same mistake in the lives of others? Do we make broad judgments and statements about those who are living lives of sin apart from God, thinking they could never be reached? We don't know they're entire tapestry and are in no position to make such judgments. Perhaps, we are the one God will use to help weave their lives together to be used by Him. Do we see the events occurring in our own lives and in the world that we live in and ask where are you God and why are You allowing such evil to happen? Perhaps, we fail to see His tapestry continuing to take shape and what part these events are being used to continue to move the story forward. Wherever we are in this story, we can be used and will be used if we humble ourselves and begin to see things through his eyes rather than through our own skewed eyes.