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Gaining Perspective

ReFocus: Larry Thomas
Thursday, June 16, 2005

For now we see through a glass, darkly... (1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV)

I once had a teacher who taught about faith from a 20-foot long timeline of Bible history that he used as a powerful visual effect. He would roll out this room-sized diagram with a long line from Adam and Eve to the present day. On it, at appropriate spots, he would place figures representing some of the well-known characters of the Bible such as Abraham, Moses, David, Ezekiel, and Paul. Then he would walk over to where, say, Moses was, turn him toward the future, and place a dark pane of glass right in front of his nose.

"This is how much Moses could see when he looked this way," he would say, and because we had the perspective of the rest of the timeline, we could understand Moses' dilemma. We also had the advantage of what we knew lay ahead of Moses that he couldn't see. In other words, in relation to Moses, we had more of a God's-eye view of things.

Even though Moses could not see into the future, there were two directions in which he could look, both were useful to his faith and in turn are useful to ours. He could look back (Where have you been?) and see how God had been faithful in his own life up until then, and, most importantly, he could look up to God and put his trust in the one who sees all.

The obvious lesson here is that we are in a similar place. We can only look back to the past and up to God, and remember there is a God's-eye view of this; we just can't see it right now. He knows what He's doing and how the events of our lives fit into His overall purposes for us and those around us. He sees reasons we have no access to. He sees a plan (Jeremiah 29: 11), that at best looks murky from our point of view. But the future, God's purposes for us, and the reliability of His promises are no less reliable than they were to Moses. In fact, we have the huge benefit of much more history than Moses ever had-the fulfillment of things Moses only dreamt about.

So remember, whatever you are going through today or wondering about in relation to tomorrow, there is a God's-eye view of this. Look up and be encouraged.

If you would like to learn more about God's plan and gain perspective in your life, contact me at 316-943-3446.