A GOD-LEVEL PERSPECTIVE

Isaiah 8:1-9:21; 2 Corinthians 12:1-10; Psalm 55:1-25; Proverbs 23:4-5

“Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. …There will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory…. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”

“I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

“Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”

If there is one consistent thing about this life, it is that things inevitably change. That, actually, is a very good thing. We can know with certainty, for example, that this current time of trial will not last indefinitely. Darkness will once more turn to dawn. In the interim, of course, there may still be a few more bumps in the road. But that is no reason to give up hope in the future. The Fat Lady has not sung, and the Lord has yet to play His final Ace. Our inability to see or predict the future does not mean there is not one. Indeed, we have little choice but to keep moving toward it. We can decide how we feel about it, though. We can live in perpetual fear of the unknown and timidly set our sights on mere survival. Or, we can choose to boldly move ahead, continuing to risk the adventures of life with Jesus and regarding any temporary setbacks – for a Christian, by definition, all setbacks are temporary – as learning experiences by which the Holy Spirit converts defeat into victory. The choice is ours. However, I would submit that one is deadly dull, literally, and only one holds the key to the fulfilled life God purposed for us from the beginning. That makes the decision a no-brainer.

Brothers and sisters, like Paul, afflicted as we each may be, we still have plenty to be grateful for. Another day has dawned. We are here to see and experience it. We have even been empowered to make it better, should we choose to do so. And there is always, ultimately, grace to fall back on. We will never fall so far that we fall out of the grip of the Creator’s unmerited forgiveness, restoration and strength as long as we continue to affirmatively claim them through prayer, confession and renewed obedience. So, let’s get about the business of living in grace rather than in defeat. We need to adopt a God-level perspective on our problems so that we do not confine ourselves to the view from the ground. That street-level perspective is always limited to the things we can see with our eyes, but our eyes can deceive us. If seeing is believing, we can easily come to believe we have no real future because our perspective just does not allow for it, or contemplate it. We remain blinded to what’s just past the horizon of our vision, and what remains is not necessarily the best view.

Ultimately, this day comes down to one major decision, as does every day. We can choose to walk with Christ and see the potential and possibilities of life through His unbounded, God-level perspective, or we can reject Him and His ways and become mired down in a life bounded by the horizons of our street level perspective. No matter what we may do to try to deny it, change is an integral part of life. How we respond to it can make the difference in whether we are blessed or depressed by the results.