What Do You See?

Exodus 14

Perspective is everything.  Is the glass half empty or half full?  Are we given just enough or are we barely scraping by?  The way you look at a situation is critical because it will determine your thoughts, attitudes, actions, and reactions.  Perspective is everything.

As the Israelites fled Egypt, God gave them a clear direction about where to camp.  Why?  So Pharoah would think they were confused and hemmed in by the desert.  God knew he could use Pharoah's self-serving attitude to bring Himself glory and free His people at the same time.

The Israelites, however, after all they'd witnessed with the plagues STILL did not have the proper persepective themselves.  Rather than trust God implicitly, they doubted His sovereignty and provision and assumed they were going to die.  They even go as far as to say they had it better in their captivity.

And captivity to anything is a strange thing.  We don't want it.  We want to escape it.  But when push comes to shove a lot of times we stay.  It's predictable.  It's what we know.  We tell ourselves we are managing it.  We lie and say that if we really wanted out, or the change, we'd just do it.  But we stay because of our fear of failure and suffering.

But what if we took a different approach.  What if we started to believe that God really was going before us everywhere He is leading us?  What if we trusted that pillar of cloud to lead us by night and day to our destination?  What if we trusted Him to defeat our enemies for us instead of exhausting ourselves in weary battle.  What if we kept our eyes focused on what He's done and what He said He'd do?  What if we trusted Him because we know there is no deceit in Him?  What if?

I am well aware that sometimes I focus so much on the fact that I followed Him to, and into, the sea that I feel like I'm drowning because I take my eyes off of Him.  I don't even realize He's pulled back the water to keep me on solid ground or that He is capable of keeping me on top of it.

As things come our way, maybe we can stop for just a moment, take a step back and try to see it from God's point of view.  In the process, we might just gain a perspective that changes what looks like an impending disaster into an exile of amazing freedom.

Jesus, give us the strength to see things, including ourselves, as you do.  Victorious in You, filled with Your Spirit to guide us, and radically loved.  Amen.