I’ve been assaulted lately by butterflies. I don’t mean just that I see them everywhere on my morning walks (though I do) or that they will be waiting for me in bushes and on top of my car as I walk out of meetings in the middle of the city (they are).

They fly at my windshield as if they’re aiming for my eyes yet somehow don’t splatter. Not just one or twice. A lot.

Then yesterday I’m on the phone with my mom discussing unpleasant things and she mentions a monarch outside her window.

They’re stalking me. I’m telling you.

So hello Jesus, what are you up to? He does this to me. When there’s a message and I’m just not getting it. I get bombarded. I understood the message about things changing. I’m changing. I’ve started to pray about changing. Asking the Father to change me. My life is going through serious upheaval. The butterflies are a comfort.

But wait. There’s more.

So here is what I get when I search for butterflies and the Bible:

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV *

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Psalm 119:50 ESV

This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.

Philippians 2:12-15 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

John 3:3 ESV

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Philippians 4:6 ESV

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 103:1-20 ESV

Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. …

Psalm 121:1-8 ESV

A Song of Ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. …

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, …

Isaiah 52:6 ESV

Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.

Jeremiah 33:1-26 ESV

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and against the sword: They are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil.

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Proverbs 6:1-35 ESV

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler

and while this isn’t a provision for my need, directly?

It does give me hope. And some direction to follow.

Answers aren’t always what we think they are. Sometimes answers come in the form of more questions, like a trail of rose petals to follow. They lead us to Love, Himself.

It happens in the in between. The day between Lazurus death and Jesus arrival. The day between the crucifixion and the Resurrection. The days between being sold into slavery, thrown into prison and then made a prince. We want the glory. We don’t like the trials that precede them.

They cannot be skipped.

But in the in between, there are butterflies. May you have eyes to see them.

*Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. Cite this page: Editor: Stephen Smith. Publication date: Oct 3, 2018. Publisher: OpenBible.info.