I was driving to an airport and needed to return a rental car before I caught my flight.  Time was tight and I wasn’t sure where the rental car place was located, and although I had an address, I had no GPS. It was going to be tricky. I needed help to get where I wanted to go. If I didn’t get it, I’d miss my flight.

I called my wife. “Hey, could you pull up this address on the computer and guide me right to it?” I gave her the address, told her my approximate location and she began guiding me to the rental car company.

“Keep going in the direction you’re going, and in about a mile you’ll want to go south,” she told me.

But that wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. One thing I knew for sure was that the rental car place was to the north. If I went south, I’d get hopelessly lost and waste time I didn’t have. 

“No,” I said, “that’s the wrong direction. The airport is north.” 

Melissa was firm. “It’s the right direction,” she said. “Take the road south.” 

A freeway sign told me the road she was talking about was only half a mile away. I had less than thirty seconds to figure this out. I really didn’t want to botch this and miss a flight.

“But south is the wrong direction,” I said, very politely and without any tension showing in my voice. “I’ll be heading away from the airport!” 

She spoke reassuringly and with confidence. “No, you’ll be okay. Trust me. I can see the big picture.” 

Melissa was looking at the map on a computer. While I could only see what was directly in front of me, she could see it all. 

“Okay,” I said. “It doesn’t feel right, but I’ll do it. I hope you’re right.”

“Big picture,” she said. “Remember?”

So I went south—away from the airport, and away from the rental car location. “This had better work!” I thought to myself. And after driving south for about half a mile, my guide said to me, “Now, see that road going off to your right?” Yes, I saw it. “Take that, and tell me what happens.”

I took the road to the right, and it turned me around and took me north—towards the airport! Then there was a left, a right, a left… and I was exactly where I needed to be.

While I couldn’t see much at all, my wife could see the big picture. And I’ve found that’s how it so often is in life. We can see so little, while God sees everything. We might not know just where to go, or it might seem we’re going in a confusing direction, but God sees the big picture, and He knows that if we follow His leading, we’ll end up exactly where we need to be.

In Psalm 32:8, God says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.” Even if you can’t see what’s around the next corner, you can know that God can see, and you can trust Him. 

Whatever you’re facing today, trust the guidance of God. You might not always understand it, but He can see the big picture.