Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Perspective

The way we look at and do things is often, if not always, a matter of the perspective we have adopted. We can experience something unpleasant but go through it with great joy if we understand even just a portion of the purpose behind it. And we can look at others going through trials we hope never to endure and see that they appear unshaken simply because they know deep within that it is meaningful.

I don't know how much of what God said to Abram was passed on to future generations. What I do know is that God told Abram your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be eslaved and oppressed. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many posesssions. (Genesis 15:13-14)

If we know the story at all, we know that the harder the Egyptians pushed the Hebrew people, the more they prospered. Why? Because they didn't confuse who they saw as forcing their labor as the One they were working for. The question then becomes do we do that?

Psalm 30:11 reads:

You turned my lament into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness

Reading things like that, I consider what I am going through, and can't help but think that just like the case with the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, it's all about perspective.

Only the Lord can fix what our eyes see, what our ears hear, what our mind thinks, and what our heart believes. He does this through a revelation in His word ~ a promise given, a truth uncovered, a lie righted, or a calling understood. And in the process of adjusting our perspective to His, whatever was heavy is suddenly light and whatever caused pain somehow manages to produce joy. He alone is able to lift our eyes back to the truth of His Word, the knowledge of His goodness, and the promise of His faithfulness.

I may not know what you are going through right now. I am however aware of my circumstances. And I can tell you that while this truth may not change anything about my situation, it certainly modifies the way I will choose to move forward in it until it reaches completion. 

I can say without a doubt that I am not a good dancer. But I suppose that if God above can take what I've been lamenting and make my soul dance to the music He's written for my life, then the only logical conclusion is that it must be a thing of beauty to witness. Let's let God take off what is weighing us down and clothe us with gladness instead and stop letting what we see to make us weary. Afterall, we have a promise to reap a harvest waiting for us at the end.




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