The Grand Weaver

   “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. (Psalms 139:13-16)

     Ravi Zacharias is man that has a wonderful testimony of God’s goodness. Born in India in a nominally Christian home he had many struggles as a youth and even contemplated suicide before being born again and dedicating his life to serving his Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ as an itinerant evangelist and apologist.  He is sometimes too intelligent for me to understand everything he says but he is a wonderful storyteller and filled with the Holy Spirit as he writes or speaks. One story he likes to tell in his books or in his speeches is about the father and son team that make saris in India. (The sari is the traditional apparel of women in that country.)

     It is in the city of Varanasi, India located on the Ganges River and is famous for the beautiful and breathtaking saris that every women in India wants to be married in. The colors are brilliant and the threads have real gold and silver in them to make them look like they came from the perfect mind and pair of hands. Ravi describes the shop he visited this way:

     “Essentially, a father son team makes each sari. The father sits on a raised platform with huge spools of brilliantly colored thread within his reach. The son sits on the floor in the lotus position. The team wears basic and simple clothing. Their fingers move nimbly, their hands never touching softening lotion. They hunch over their work, and their eyes focus on the pattern emerging with each move of the shuttle.

     Before my eyes, though it did not appear so at first, a grand design appears. The father gathers some threads in his hand, then nods, and the son moves the shuttle from one side to the other. A few more threads, another nod, and again the son responds by moving the shuttle. The process seems almost Sisyphus-like in its repetition, the silence broken only occasionally with a comment or by some visitor who interrupts to ask a question about the end design. The father smiles and tries in his broken English to explain the picture he has in his mind, but compared to the magnificence of the final product, it is a mere lisp. I know that if I were to come back  a few weeks later—in some instances a few months later—I would see spools of thread almost empty and six-yard-long sari, breathtaking in all of its splendor.

    Throughout the process, the son has had a much easier task. Most likely he has often felt bored. Perhaps his back has ached or his legs have gone to sleep. Perhaps he has wished for some other calling in life—something he might find more stimulating or fulfilling. He has but one task, namely, to move the shuttle as directed by the father’s nod, hoping to learn to think like his father so that he can carry on the business at the appropriate time.

    Yet the whole time, the design has remained in the mind of the father as he held the threads. In a few days, this sari will make its way to a shop in Delhi or Bombay or Calcutta. A lovely young lady with her mother will note the saris on display. This one will catch her eye and she will exclaim, ‘Bohut Badiya (how grand)! Khupsurat (what a beautiful face)!’ because a grand weaver has purposefully designed it. Before long, it will be draped around her, beautifying the lovely bride.

     Now if an ordinary weaver can take a collection of colored threads and create a garment to beautify the face, is it not possible that the Grand Weaver has a design in mind for you, a design that will adorn you as He uses your life to fashion you for His purpose, using all the threads within His reach?” (The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias, pp. 15-16)

    What a magnificent story to illustrate the Grand Weaver weaving our life together in an intricate and beautiful design. It reminds us of the example Jeremiah used in chapter 18 of his book about God being the potter and us being the clay. He has a design in mind and as we read in Psalms 139, we know that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Are we content with how God has made us and are we seeking to use our lives to serve Him with the talents and gifts He has given to fulfill His magnificent and glorious plan?

Pray

1.     That God will open my eyes and allow me to see that He has such a wonderful plan for my life and to allow me to enjoy all that He has provided.

2.     That I will look for ways to serve Him everyday as I give my life as a “pleasing sacrifice” which is reasonable, considering all He has done for me.

3.     That I will praise Him with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength today with joy and thankfulness in my heart for allowing me to be His son or daughter.