PERSPECTIVE by Vicki Taylor

Isaiah 55:8 – For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.

Have you ever wondered why God allows certain things to happen in your life? I know I have. Why does He allow “bad” things to happen to us and to people we love? Disasters, disease, and death. How can a good God allow so much sorrow to come into our world/lives if He plans everything? Why does He allow this?

It’s all in our perspective. Can disaster come to a city (life) unless the Lord has planned it? (Amos 3:6)  No, He is over every disaster, hurricane, storm and trial that comes our way. And if we believe Romans 8:28 is true…that all things do work together for our good to those of us who love Him and have been called according to His purpose…then we need to have the faith to trust Him in those trials and storms.

And what about the tsunami storms that knock us off our feet? The ones we are not prepared for like cancer, loss of jobs, or even death? The ones that leave us asking, “Why God?” Can we expect good things and not the bad? That which seems bad only seems so because of our perspective. 

God tells us that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. How can we expect anything any different since we cannot know the mind of God? But … we can know His heart. We get to know His heart by spending time with Him. We begin to see things from His perspective when we get to know who He is.  He has a plan for my life and He has a plan for yours, not to harm you, but to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

I looked up the word perspective in the dictionary, and it means to see clearly. It takes the lens of God’s Word to see His world clearly. Without it we have a distorted view, an earthly view, a humanistic view. I don’t know about you, but I want to see clearly. I desire to have a spiritual perspective of everything I do and to be able to do that in order to bring Him glory. I believe Romans 8:28. I live Romans 8:28. I have seen my world crash around me and things looked pretty hopeless, but I was not without hope! Hope changes everything. Hope can bring new life to the drought-ridden heart and make it swell with love, God’s love. Hope can give one that heavenly perspective. Hope opens the eyes of the heart and allows the light of God’s love to pour in and dispel all the darkness that the world wants us to believe. Yes, hope changes everything.  

It’s all in our perspective.