Leaping to the front of the news pack, passing up Amanda Knox's joyous return and the epic choke of the Red Sox, was yesterday's story, and today's continuation, of the passing of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, Inc. Much of the story line here in the Northwest has dealt with the speculation of what life would be like had Apple never gotten off the ground: no I-Pods, no I-Touch, no Mac, no I-Pad, no "anything" Apple. "Would we have made it?" one commentator postulated.
The larger question that must be asked, especially by those of us who profess to have been changed internally by the Holy Spirit's indwelling, is not one of how could we have existed without our "Shuffle" or "I-Tunes account" but "what was the condition of the soul of Steve Jobs?" He was one greatly loved by his Heavenly Father, as are all of us. His relationship with Jesus Christ is not something I can speak to, however, as (a) I did not know the man, and (b) the Lord alone knows the heart.
I have heard, however, excerpts from a commencement address given by Mr. Jobs at Stanford a few years back. In the address he offered what amounted to, in my estimation anyway, a glimpse into his world view. He said (and this is a lose paraphrase) that you cannot connect the dots of life looking forward, but only when looking backwards. Whether he knew it or not, this is a picture of sovereignty, to some degree. There is a grain of truth to what he was saying. Whether that thought stemmed from a world view that includes God, I cannot say. I found it interesting, nonetheless, that he was describing the workings of a sovereign God; a God for whom there is never an "oppps!"
Often, in our lives, the future does appear to us to be random dots that really seem to make little sense and seem fairly disjointed, until we look in the rear view mirror of our life and see how God took and created a sovereign pattern comprised of those same dots.
When commenting on this quote of Mr. Jobs', a local news commentator here in Seattle said, "Life just has a way of working out." To which I was ready to agree, if by "life" you mean "The Life"...the one mentioned in John 14:6, who said of himself "I am the way, the truth, and The Life..." Yes, The Life DOES have a way of working things out, of connecting the dots in life. And the greatest need anyone has, whether they create brand new operating systems that have never been considered, or exist in life, never finding themselves on the front page of the Times, is to live in subjection to "The Life." He alone is the one that connects the dots..that brings life together. It's called sovereignty.
