Take a bottle cap between your thumb and index finger and close one eye. Now fully extend the arm and hand, but keep the bottle cap as your main focal point. What else can you see around and beyond the bottle cap? How much space does the bottle cap occupy in comparison to the space and objects around and beyond it? Keeping your eye focused on the bottle cap, slowly move it toward your eye until it is directly in front and almost touching it. Now, what else can you see around and beyond the bottle cap? How much space does it appear to occupy in comparison to the space and objects you can still see around and beyond it?
The bottle cap represents the sum total of all of your troubles and problems. Picture all of your troubles and problems in the bottle cap. When the bottle cap is directly in front of your eye, it is all you are able to see. Likewise, when your focus and attention are directed toward your troubles and problems, they are all you see. Only when you look beyond your bottle cap, when it is no longer the only object in view, can you find that God occupies so much more space than your problems and troubles.
This analogy and associated lesson was taught by our chaplain during a disaster relief effort in Minot, North Dakota. We were assisting in the cleanup efforts for flood victims. The flood waters remained at extremely high levels for over three weeks, creating a substantial mess. The chaplain was there to provide spiritual aid for the disaster relief team and to provide consolation to the victims we came to serve. A victim who lost much in the flood shared the bottle cap analogy with our chaplain. The chaplain was sent to encourage the victims. Instead, this victim encouraged the chaplain with the analogy, and the chaplain later shared the analogy with several dozen volunteer relief workers.
The analogy and resulting lesson were significant for me. It lifted my spirit and helped adjust my perspective. While I came to Minot to assist people overwhelmed by a river which ruined belongings and corrupted or destroyed their homes, I arrived overwhelmed with my own flood of personal problems, difficulties, and questions. What I saw in Minot was the devastation of property, and I felt the emotional devastation and loss of hope in some of the victims. I saw something else as well. The relief teams poured hope into the physical devastation. The victims received help to recover belongings, clean up, and repair their houses. The victims also received the message of eternal hope in Jesus Christ.
My problems paled in comparison to those in Minot. The victims in Minot and the bottle cap analogy put my problems into perspective. God is much larger than my problems. He is absolutely capable of handling any problem or difficulty in my life. Trusting Him is not expecting life to be without problems. It is having peace even in the rough circumstances of life. The scripture comes to mind, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusteth in Thee,” Isa 26:3. And, there is Jesus’ promise that He would never leave nor forsake us.
In all my circumstances, I want to remember the bottle cap analogy and keep the bottle cap perspective. God controls all of my bottle cap problems, and they are not too big for Him.
Break the Bread 