God's Perspective

I suppose it makes sense to pick up this morning where we left off yesterday.... once we begin to understand that God really desires to be "Our Father", what comes next just seems natural.....

When I read the words "in heaven" from Matthew 6:9, my first thoughts were "of course Our Father is in heaven, why do we need to state the obvious?". Even people who may not be followers of Christ may acknowledge that God is in heaven!

One of the biggest problems I had with my parents growing up, and now get to experience on a daily basis as a parent of four kids, is that my parents always seemed to have a different perspective on things than I did. When they would say I couldn't do this or that, I'd say "why not?", and they would always respond with the same four words... "because __ _____ so!". I don't have to fill in the blanks... you have heard and maybe said those same words.

As I considered the words "in heaven", in light of understanding that God is "Our Father", I came to the conclusion that this is a gentle reminder that God's perspective is different than mine. His view from Heaven is unobstructed. We can only see the beginning of today, but He can see the end. We can easily be distracted by the circumstances of the day that we never saw coming, but He won't be taken by surprise because He saw it coming.

Why is this important? I received two gripping emails this week. One was from our ministry partners in Uganda, who witnessed an unimaginable scene this past week. Just after four young African boys had come to know Christ and had publicly declared their faith in Christ through baptism, they locked arms and jumped back into the lake to celebrate their new life in Christ. That celebration quickly turned to catastrophe when those four boys, arms locked together, went straight to the bottom of that lake and drowned. To hear the story was horrific.... I can't imagine seeing this happen.

The second was from a young woman, who was one of our "kids" in a former student ministry we served. She's probably reading this today, with a heart full of pain, trying to understand "why?". This young woman, who we knew as a Godly young teenager, loved our family, especially our children. She would spend hours upon hours at our home, caring for and playing with our kids. Now married, she poured her heart out in an email to us this week about her continued struggles to have a child of her own. Since 2004, she and her husband, who faithfully serve God and live for Jesus, have done everything they can, including multiple rounds of every available kind of Fertilization technology. She's experienced two miscarriages, and unthinkable pain - physically, emotionally, and spiritually. My heart broke for this sweet family - I can't imagine walking in thier shoes today.

Here comes the "whisper" from God.....

I Corinthian 2:9-11 (NKJV)
But as it is written:
“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. ”But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

My vision will never be as clear as God's. My understanding of how He works will always be tainted by my perspective on the situation. We can't see it, we can't can't hear it, we can't "feel" or comprehend it, but God's plan for us is perfect. From His perspective, everything is under control!

FATHER God, in HEAVEN, give me the strength today to trust your heart, even when I cannot trace your hand....

When You Can’t Trace His hand, Trust His Heart
All things work for our good
though sometimes we can’t see how they could.
Struggles that break our hearts in two
sometimes blind us to the truth.
Our Father knows what’s best for us;
His ways are not our own.
So, when your pathway grows dim,
and you just can’t see Him,
Remember He’s still on the throne.

God is too wise to be mistaken.
God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don’t understand,
when you don’t see His plan,
When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.

He sees the Master plan.
He holds the future in His hands.
So don’t live as those who have no hope.
All our hope is found in Him.
We walk in present knowledge,
but He sees the first and the last.
And like a tapestry, He’s weaving you and me
to someday be just like Him.

God is too wise to be mistaken.
God is too good to be unkind.
So when you don’t understand,
when you don’t see His plan,
When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.

Whatever It Takes,
Chip