God's Point of View

I just finished reading a true-story of a man who lost his entire family in a flash flood in Kansas during the summer of 2003. His wife and four young children all died as the floodwaters engulfed them. In a split second his entire life changed. He was the sole survivor left to carry on without his precious family. It was a gut-wrenching story to read but it spoke volumes about his character and his eternal perspective. Although grief-stricken beyond belief, he was able to carry on because he knew God and His promise of eternal life with Him one day. I could relate to his story because, I too, have experienced extreme sorrow when my own 9 year old son died in a freak accident many years ago. Although I did not have a personal relationship with God at the time, the intense grief and sorrow paved the way to a relationship with my Lord. I quickly discovered that no one nor anything could give me the hope I so desperately needed. I found that hope in Jesus alone. I began reading the Bible and took Him at His word. Over time, He gave me an eternal perspective and I realized that He used my suffering, tears and pain to give me a new vision and purpose for my life. It was to know, love, obey and serve Him. I did not have all the answers to why these horrible tragedies occur, but I didn’t need to know why. I just needed to trust Him and know that He would use them for my good and for His glory.

As I immersed myself in His Word I began to get God’s point of view. His promises filled me with hope and increased my faith exponentially. Since we live in a fallen world, it is inevitable that we are going to experience pain, disappointments, and sorrow. When earthly dreams disappoint and our future seems to be on hold, what will enable us to carry on? When people fail or hurt us, what will we turn to? When sorrow comes knocking on our door, what will bring us hope? Every single day of our lives we need God’s perspective or we will surely fall apart.

We’ve got a choice. We can look at life two ways. Either we can look at what is seen, what is temporal. This consists of man’s view of his feelings and circumstances and is seen and experienced with the physical eye. Or we can look at life at what is not seen, yet is eternal. This is God’s eternal perspective. We may not be able to see with physical eyes since it is invisible, but nevertheless it is true and real. This perspective gives us hope and anchors our soul and is totally independent of any outside events or circumstances.

There is only one place where we can find God’s point of view and that is in the Bible. It is there that we will gain God’s perspective on any given situation. But in order to do so, there are a few things we need to do.

• We must be a Christian. (You must first be a Christian to understand spiritual things. 1 Cor 2:6-26)
• We must acknowledge our present situation in life. (You can’t gain a proper perspective if you deny your circumstances. The truth will set you free.)
• We must discover God’s point of view in His Word. (Find God’s promises related to your situation in life. Forego telling all the friends and neighbors your situation. Go to God instead.)
• We must take God at His Word. (Act according to the eternal perspective you see in God’s Word. Walk by faith, not be sight.)

Remember that faith is a choice, a decision, not a feeling. It is important to act on God’s Word and not just read it. Inotherwords, be a doer. What good is it if we fill our mind with God’s truth but don’t live it out? As we gain an eternal perspective, we will experience the power of God’s Word at work in our lives. We will be walking by faith and not by sight!

Life on earth is but a brief moment compared to eternity. So let us make it a priority to see God in everything and live the brief life He gave us on earth in light of our eternal life with Christ.

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor 4:18

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Heb 11:1

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Heb 11:6