Perspective

Two weeks running, my church's Sunday sermon has touched on the idea that "the reason most of us are worriers is that we see God as no bigger than our biggest problem." My own"problem with problems" isn't so much their individual weight as their combined volume. Lately it seems that something new goes wrong every day: an unexpected expense pops up just as a client hits tough financial times and can't pay a bill on schedule; a much-anticipated appointment cancels at the last minute because something important came up; I remember almost too late that I need extra input for a project and then my potential source gets huffy because I asked on such short notice. At least once a week, I was grumbling that God may be bigger than our problems, but He doesn't seem to be nearly as visible.

I thought it was His responsibility to step directly into my line of vision. It was some time before I considered that maybe I was looking in the wrong direction. Or that maybe I found problems more visible because--like a bird watcher who has her binoculars set for a clear view of a house sparrow ten feet away and then complains that the eagle soaring overhead is a blurry speck--I was too lazy to "adjust my focus" for the better vision.

Actually, human nature is so self-centered that it hardly needs an obvious problem to get itself, God, and the world out of perspective. Each of us is prone to one of two wrong attitudes toward everyday life. On one side stand the worriers and the workaholics, desperately trying to anticipate and head off everything that might spoil their plans; on the other side are the egotists who confidently assert that the human race is smart enough to deal with anything.

Both sides (and, sadly, both include a fair number of Christians) have the same root issue: thinking of themselves and/or humanity in general as responsible for "getting things right." If God gets factored into the equation at all, He is seen as a 911 number to be ignored during everyday concerns and called on only in direst emergency. When the emergency comes, it's not surprising that we can see it better than we can see God--because it's standing directly between us and what we'd already put in front of God.

Many of our problems really are bigger than we are. So if we also see them as bigger than God, we've likely gotten into the habit of seeing ourselves as bigger than God.

We may boast as we learn to treat cancer
And to stretch a life's total span;
But each human breath and each day of death
Are still subject to God's own plan.

We may think ourselves masters of science
Who could probe the most distant sun;
But each star was lit, and each orbit set,
By the Only Eternal One.

We may think we are brilliant achievers
If we guess where the snow will fall;
But the sun, the rain, and the hurricane
Are all still at God's beck and call.

We are constantly learning and dreaming,
And predicting a day when we
May see nature's all at our beck and call:
"Then," we think, "just like gods we'll be."

Since that line worked its mischief on Adam,
The appeal of its siren call
Has wrecked countless souls on the rocky shoals
Known as Pride and as I Am All.

But if you would be someone important--
Truly wish to achieve your best--
Turn away from pride, and let God inside,
For His servants alone are blessed!

If You Count the Things That You Do Not Have

Are you a natural positive thinker? If so, that in itself is a blessing worth counting. Just please don't look down on those of us who have to work harder at being happy.

Exactly what makes someone a perpetually cheerful soul or a gloom-and-doom pessimist is a question with no obvious or simple answer. Circumstances have relatively little to do with it; there are cheerful cancer patients and miserable socialites. Genetic and chemical makeup are definitely contributing factors; just as some people have natural talent for music or sports, others have natural talent for the sunny outlook. But like most lifestyle tendencies, optimism and pessimism are also heavily nurtured by habit. Feed the mind a steady habit of complaining and looking at the negative--and surround yourself with others who do the same--and soon you'll be hating your whole life as a matter of course.

Considering that the good things in most lives outweigh the bad on any careful examination, it's surprising how many people find it far easier to think negative than positive. Blame advertisers or news reporters if you like, but probably a spirit of dissatisfaction is one of the facts of fallen human nature. And probably nothing that feels so natural makes us so miserable--or accomplishes so little.

God's prescription for curing the gloomy-thinking syndrome? "Count your blessings," as the old song goes. As you go through the list, take time to thank God for each item. Then spend some time thanking and praising Him just for being what He is: kind, all-powerful, merciful, all-knowing, loving, Creator of all... Repeat every time you feel depressed, discouraged, or mad at the world.

When we practice looking at God rather than at circumstances, we better appreciate how much bigger He is than any problem.

If you count the things that you do not have,
You will count yourself ever poor,
Though your savings keep eighteen banks afloat
And gold knockers adorn your door.
For you are a small part of all the world,
So the sum of the things it holds
Always will be far more than what you can clasp,
Though your fate endless wealth unfolds.
So forget the things that you do not have;
Thank the Lord Who made sun and star
For the blessings and treasure He gives to you,
And rejoice in how rich you are!

If you only look at your pains and woes,
They will grow in your frightened mind
Into giants that bar your every path,
And give constant pursuit behind.
But it's not their physical size that counts
In their power to trouble your heart;
It's the size of the doubt that you hold within,
Which just swells once you let it start.
Turn your eyes away from your earthly pains;
Fix your gaze on the Lord of All;
And as you give praise to His glorious might,
You will see life's worst giants fall!

The Eyes of Your Heart

Paul's admonition to "live by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7, NIV) seems especially appropriate when to all appearances the world is falling apart. But we often forget that it applies equally well when you're settled into a dream job, your bank account is full, and your family hasn't had a serious fight in months. When things are going well, it's easy to get comfortable and forget to thank God for His generosity: "You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me'" (Dt. 8:17).

And we also tend to live as if the way things are--good or bad--came with a guarantee of permanence. How many people went to their offices in the World Trade Center expecting September 11, 2001 to be a routine work day? How many New Orleans residents were going about business as usual on August 23, 2005, never suspecting that a hurricane forming over the Bahamas would wash away much of their city a week later? How many people will be caught with their lives planned out in all confidence for the next fifty years, on the day Christ returns? (See Luke 17:26-37.)

Sadder yet are the cases of people who themselves created the disasters they failed to see coming. There was the Christian businessman who seemingly "had it all"--wealth, position, respect, health, family--and then decided to sin "just a little." A little led to more and more, and he wound up in a counselor's office with his life in shambles, moaning, "I thought God's hand was on me forever and whatever I did would turn to gold." Just because God has filled your life with material blessings doesn't mean He likes you so much that He'll smile indulgently if you flirt with your secretary or pad your expense account.

Besides, prosperity comes with its own headaches and chaos--as many a workaholic recovering from a premature heart attack can attest. God is the only truly stable point in anyone's life.

When the whole world seems crazy and out of control,
Fix the eyes of your heart on the Lord.
When your mind won't stop racing and you can't see the goal,
Fix the eyes of your heart on the Lord.
The eyes in your head will deceive you;
The eyes of your mind wander far;
But when you can't seem to see straight anymore,
Look to God with the eyes of your heart.

When you've got so much duty that you wish you were twins,
Fix the eyes of your heart on the Lord.
When demands press upon you till the whole world just spins,
Fix the eyes of your heart on the Lord.
The eyes in your head may be pretty;
The eyes of your mind may be smart;
But when you can't focus on what you should do,
Look to God with the eyes of your heart.

Open Skies

Even with "prosperity gospel" televangelism past its gilded age, the idea that "becoming a Christian will solve all your problems" still surfaces frequently, thanks largely to believers who "have it good" in the worldly sense but are usually shallow in their spiritual development. There are still many communities where going to church is a mark of the prominent and respectable--but are these really the strongest Christians? It takes plenty of resistance to build muscle. And a serious reading of the Bible and history reveals that the greatest saints faced the most opposition and struggle.

If you're anything like me, your first reaction to that may be, "If it takes hard times to make a strong Christian, I'd as soon stay weak!" But virtually no one who has accepted the struggle has later regretted it. And believers who are "content" to stay weak often find their lives sadly lacking in contentment.

Not that this is a one-time decision where we say, "Okay, God, make me strong!," take one tough test, and can relax from then on. Often, our only immediate reward for coming through a struggle, is harder struggles--and even seemingly unshakable Christians have given up and backslid into worldly living. If we truly want to be the best Christians we can be, we have to renew our commitment, and tap into the Source, virtually every day.

We must trust God to show us the tasks of each moment--and to give us strength for each task. Our hardest times are often the times we eventually most thank Him for.

When torrents of pain pour upon you,
And mists from the rain blur your sight,
When even to breathe is a struggle,
And even the noon dark as night,
Remember that even in blackness,
God still makes a pathway ahead:
What seems like the flood that would drown you
May be showers of blessing instead.

When each onward step is a struggle
Through waters as deep as your chest,
When currents keep pushing against you,
With never a moment for rest,
Remember that strength comes from striving,
And go where your Savior has led:
What seems like the flood that would drown you
May be showers of blessing instead.

As sure as the flood-days of Noah
Let mankind get started again,
As sure as the Cross made a pathway
For all who were slaves to their sin,
As sure as salvation of thousands
Has sprung where the martyrs have bled,
What seems like the flood that would drown you
May be showers of blessing instead.

Up Above

When circumstances are uniformly discouraging--whether in the brief disappointment of seeing it rain on a Saturday picnic, the temporary but heavy pain of having to cancel a much-anticipated trip, or the long-term stress of trying to find an elusive job before the savings run out--it's easy to convince ourselves that the pain is the sum of our lives. We expand minor frustrations into proof that nothing ever goes right, and hard times into the firm conviction that things will never get better. And we forget that God works all things together for our good; or we tell Him flat out that we prefer the temporary and obvious good which we could at least enjoy right away. It's hard to appreciate the character that hard times will eventually build, when we're stuck slogging through those hard times minute by minute. Still, complaining doesn't do anything except add to the misery.

As the old saying goes, "When the outlook is bad, try the uplook." Better yet, ask God to give you some of His "up above" perspective and teach you to look down on circumstances.

When the air is dark and the rain pours down,
Still the sky is not truly gray,
For it still shines blue high above the clouds:
Up above is a sunny day.

When the air hangs hot on the valley floor,
The humidity high and cruel,
On the mountain peak you can see afar,
Up above all is fresh and cool.

When the pain of life is a two-ton load
And the weight seems too much to bear,
Raise your cry to God and He'll lift your soul
Up above on the wings of prayer.