“Lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).
The last time I flew from Seattle to Manila was phenomenal for me. We flew over Siberia and Russia. Below us stretched thousands of miles of frigid sand dunes and fields of snow. I gazed down at acres of pine forest striped with winding highways. I had made this flight many times before, but that time it all seemed brand new.
There is a simple explanation for my wonder. I took a new route and at a different time of day. My point of view was different.
I think the same explanation holds true concerning the difference between the way we see the world and the way God sees it. We look at situations from our points of view; He looks at them from His.
A Chinese pastor told my husband about the time he had spent in prison. My husband asked him, “Are you bitter? Do you hate God for doing that to you?”
The pastor replied, “No! I led many people to the Lord there.
Although my life was really hard, I read my Bible through five times. I gained a lot of good things from my time in prison.”
This pastor learned to look at things through God’s eyes and see from His viewpoint.
People standing at the foot of the Cross had various views. Some were happy, some were grieving, and some were terrified. NONE of them saw the truth. They did not see what God saw: His Son dying so we could have life, His son winning over the forces of evil.
Next time you are contemplating a problem, ask God to show you what He sees.
Kimberly Snider is a missionary to the Philippines.
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