Perspective

You’ve probably noticed already, but I love to travel. I see trips as an opportunity to refocus, ask for God’s guidance, and enjoy the world he created for us. In fact, I’m writing this onboard a bus from Rome to Florence during a personal retreat trip.

A few years ago, God surprised me with a student trip I won in my senior year of high school. I went to Mexico and it was a lovely time in my life and a testimony of the details God has with his children (another story). Looking out the window as we flew over Mexico, I saw two things that moved me deeply. We were flying over a carpet of white clouds that covered the entire panorama. On the horizon, the peak of an imposing volcano broke through the cloud barrier. I was so impressed, I literally cried. It was the first time I saw a view like that one and the size of the mountain blew my mind.

Other spectacular mountains seen on my current trip (Swiss Alps)

The second thing was a lesson God taught me visually. I believe he did so because he knew that, as an artist, I would understand the lesson better if I saw it. As we approached landing, I looked out the window and saw the cars driving below us as tiny ants parading in line through a forest floor. I noticed that from the plane I had a privileged view or perspective above that of the drivers below. I could see all the intersections and could anticipate cars' movements before they happened. Furthermore, from this view point I could easily foresee an accident. God ministered to me that, in the same way, he has an extra, mega privileged perspective over my life. I see the traffic light that stops me, or the pedestrian that crosses suddenly in front of my car, forcing me to drive cautiously. But I can’t see the truck headed my way two blocks down the road, maybe without brakes or driving erratically. God can see these things because his perspective is much higher than mine, perfect in fact. It’s complete, because He is not limited by time: he sees the past, the present, and the future.

It was a moment of light for me. And, at my young age, I thought I would never forget that illustration, which would remind me of God’s sovereignty and prevision during trials, thus allowing me to trust in him blindly. The truth is I didn’t forget the lesson. But the other truth is that when the problems and trials of life are more difficult than those I had when I was 17 years old, it’s not as easy to believe that God’s providence is freeing me from suffering something worse down the road. When things are upside down, how do you believe it’s all part of God’s plan? The original plan, not an emergency one because something escaped his attention and now he’s scrambling for a solution.

How I struggle with this lesson! It’s so easy to listen to another believer’s story and tell them, “Don’t worry, God’s in control. He knows what he’s sparing you from, everything will be ok, you’ll see.” However, believing that over our own lives and circumstances can be very hard! Sometimes, we need to take a step back and try to see things from a different perspective.

Our perspective increases or decreases the size of what we are facing.

When I focus only on my problem, it’s as if I was stuck in a traffic jam, complaining about it, when it might well be the tool God is using to save my life. One day, after ending my work shift, I took an alternate route home. To my surprise, there was a road block along this alternate road and I got pulled over for having an expired tag on my car (I had no clue). They gave me a $200 ticket. Obviously, I was not happy about the ticket, but had a sense of peace because I thought that maybe if I had taken the usual road, I would have had a fatal accident or something. If God allowed the fine, knowing it was a huge amount for me, then He knew what he was delivering me from on the other road.

Sometimes, when God speaks to us and shares what he wants to do, or

where he wants us to go, we think we are going there right away. However, from what I see in Scripture, and my own life and those of other believers, God rarely takes us from point A to point B and BOOM!, you have arrived. He’ll take us from A to G, to C, to T, etc. If we compare it to a board game, God’s ways are frequently like Chutes and Ladders. We take a step and go up a ladder, three steps later, we’re down a chute, we move again and climb up a ladder, then we take a detour and end up where we started! I’m talking about the route, not our well-being.

Consider Paul, for example. He didn't turn into the Paul we know over night. God gave him a huge calling when He revealed himself to him, but Paul didn't write his letters the day after he recovered his eyesight! It took YEARS of processes and lessons. In fact, in his letter to the Romans, we can see that even though he was already recognized in his ministry, he too desired to be encouraged mutually in his faith with other believers (Rom.1:12). I think that if Paul hadn't spent so much time in jail, he might not have felt the urgency to write to believers. Did he have any idea the entire world would be able to read those letters? He could have become bitter inside a smelly prison, however, he decided to use his prisons to share the truths that God has used for thousands of years. From Paul's perspective, he might have seen a small group of believers reading and sharing his letters. On the other hand, God knew that those letters would teach us about christian living, that they would inspire thousands and thousands of books, sermons, conversations, dissension, and even blogs like this one :)

Why does God work in this way in our lives? One reason is because he is in the process of maturing us and growing us to the measure of the fullness of Christ. “Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.” (James 1:2-4, see also Eph.4:13)

Oh, but how we want to understand everything at once! “Lord, why are you allowing me to go through this? Why didn’t you heal him? Why did you take this person from my life? Why didn’t they give me the opportunity? Why can’t I have the family I desire?" And so many other questions we ask Jesus. Questions that don’t necessarily have answers that will satisfy our limited minds, which only when we see him face to face we might understand. I say might because I don’t think that when I finally see him in all his majesty I’m going to be like, “So, hey Lord, why didn’t I get that promotion back in 2016?” I think that none of the things that bog us down will have any more importance. Hmm, that sounds like our perspective will be completely different. Could it be that we’ll finally understand that he doesn’t need our permission to work in the world? That nobody taught him how to create the Earth, and that he doesn’t lack all the details of what is happening to us (which we want to give him)?

Immediately, I think about Job, who went through unimaginable pain and who questioned God, quite eloquently for a mere mortal. The same way that we often do. The same way Mary and Martha did, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died...” (John 11:21) You know? Questioning God is not something bad in itself; Scripture is full of examples of God’s servants doing so. He knows that from our perspective, we can’t see the entire panorama. Talk to him, tell him how you feel, but recognize his sovereignty through it all. “Not my will, but yours be done,” “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Lk.22:42 & Mt.6:10)

After Job vented through his questions and speeches, God answered with his own set of questions and observations. I suggest you read all of God’s answer to Job, because in it, there are beautiful details about God’s creative power. Let us consider that God could have responded in many different ways: explaining that Satan had asked for permission to tempt Job, rebuking him for being so brazen, staying quiet or ignoring Job’s questions, etc. However, God responds by making much of His own power and greatness. A lot of his response is based on describing things He created, including a very detailed description of the leviathan, which sounds an awful lot like a dragon or some extinct beast for us, but which Job was familiar with. Now that’s something I do want ask God about in heaven!

Think about God’s answer. In essence, what he does is highlight a tiny piece of his resume. Enough to silence Job’s complaints. He removes Job and his situation from the central focal point, and places the attention on God and his creative power. God and his plans. God and his omniscience. God and his glory.

This is the key that allows us to walk one day at a time when we are crossing a valley. It’s changing our perspective from an egocentric one, obsessed with understanding the reason for the pain, to one that is centered around God’s greatness and power. Of course, we can’t forget all the beautiful promises God has for us, or the restoration God brought to Job’s life. But look at Job’s attitude after hearing from God: he humbled himself and recognized God's power. When we have the attitude to learn from God, God honors that and takes us from glory to glory. When we get irritated against God (according to Proverbs 19:3, "A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord") for our suffering, we get stuck, embittered, and we stop growing.

Friend, God is not unaware of our pain. He has not forgotten you. He is working even when it seems nothing is happening. Where will we anchor our confidence? In our limited human understanding or in the One who has power to create invincible dragons? On Him who calls each star by its name, who knows how many hairs are on our heads, who creates beasts of the field, who gives life to that which was dead and who creates things where there was nothing?

Maybe you can’t board a plane right this minute to literally change your perspective, but maybe a stroll in a nearby forest can help you focus on the things He’s created. A singing bird reminds you that he cares for the birds, a noisy insect reminds you that all creation worships him, a sunset reminds you that his mercy will be renewed in just a few more hours and that joy comes in the morning.

I leave you with some of my favorite verses from God’s response to Job in chapter 38:

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— while the morning stars sang together and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?

“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.

“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.

“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside? Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings? Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert, to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass? Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?

“Can you bind the chains[b] of the Pleiades? Can you loosen Orion’s belt? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons[c] or lead out the Bear[d] with its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s[e] dominion over the earth?

“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? Who gives the ibis wisdom[f] or gives the rooster understanding?[g] Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?