Having a Heavenly Perspective
“Neither sunshine nor darkness matters when one is firmly planted in the Lord, His joy radiates within us, His peace secures us”
For a while now I have wanted to push on and start a study regarding different topics in the Bible. However, each time I could feel God tell me no and has wanted me to stay focus on helping my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ stay the course right now. So today, we are examining the situation many are in today.
Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to a fellow brother in Christ who is a doctor living in Texas. In a sensitive state he wrote a letter describing his emotional bankruptcy over the year 2020. In his letter he described how desperate he was for good news, something that he could hold on to. Thankfully, he is a believer but was in desperate need to hear someone tell him that God was still in control. Like him, I believe it would not be so hard to say there are many Christians who are currently feeling down, beaten, and stricken with a hopelessness that reaches into our very soul.
I understand where many of you currently are. Just a few years ago my wife and I found ourselves in a year foreshadowing 2020. We went from losing our main source of financial support, to having to move away from our family to a state where we knew no one, there we would deal with housing issues, health concerns, and different jobs denying us a chance to be promoted. However, it was during those times we found that Christ was closer to us than we had realized.
Thankfully, instead of running away from Jesus Christ, our strong shelter, we ran towards Him. He being a loving Father embraced us and used the opportunity to teach us a lesson that was priceless. God taught us that no matter what, He was in control and shaping us to listen eagerly for His voice. Proverbs states this in Chapter 22: 17-19, “incline your ear and hear the words of the wise and apply your mind to my knowledge. For it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, that they may be ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the Lord, I have taught you today, even you.” If we eagerly sit and listen, He will teach us. This is something that cannot be forced. A good student is never a student who will not listen to the teacher. A good Christian is never a Christian who will not listen to the Father. Sometimes, God will put events in our lives to wake us up. For my wife and I, the year of craziness was 100% a great year to wake up and realize we needed to be actively listening to the Lord and not just playing “Christian”. For believers today in 2020, this has been a great wake up year!
Some individuals have been complacent and needed to have their world rocked a little and that’s ok, “Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.” Proverbs 23:13-14. 2020 has been one of the greatest years of evangelism in places that have become saturated by complacent churches and lukewarm Christians.
Nevertheless, there are some who might be reading this who are saying, “This isn’t me! I wasn’t complacent and haven’t been lukewarm, yet all of this is happening to me and my family.” Let me answer these people with a question in return, “Do you not believe that Jesus Christ is fully aware of your issues and concerns?” He is fully aware and is there no matter the situation you find yourself in. The amount of faith you have does not correlate with your livelihood and established 401K. Being wealthy or being poor has no constitution on the amount of faith you have nor reflect the quality of your relationship with Jesus Christ. There are times Jesus puts us in difficult situations so that we can be taught a lesson, other times it could be so we can be a good role model for someone else that God is attempting to teach. Just look at Job who has never known any of us personally, but his life is still reflected on by those going through tough times. Following Christ means we seek Him no matter what is happening to us, even if we do not understand why it is happening. Look at what the psalmist says in Psalm 119: 145-152,
“I cried out with all my heart; answer me, Lord!
I will comply with Your statutes.
146 I cried to You; save me
And I shall keep Your testimonies.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I wait for Your words.
148 My eyes anticipate the night watches,
So that I may meditate on Your word.
149 Hear my voice according to Your faithfulness;
Revive me, Lord, according to Your judgments.
150 Those who follow after wickedness approach;
They are far from Your Law.
151 You are near, Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth.
152 From long ago I have known from Your testimonies
That You have founded them forever.”
The psalmist cries out to the Lord for an answer, he follows the statutes of the Lord, he asks the Lord to save him but is still ready to tell others of Jesus Christ and what He has already done. The psalmist rises early to focus on the Word of God, he spends the quality time needed to pray, and he waits on the Words of God. I want to pause there and highlight this part.
“I wait for Your words”
I must be honest with you, until recently I did not fully understand this myself. To wait for His Words means to study His Word, to know His Word, and be ready to hear His Word. To wait on the Words of the Lord is an action without acting upon our situation. What does this mean? It means if we find ourselves in a difficult situation and are having to wait on the Lord, we need to actively seek His Word, read His Word, know His Word, and be ready to receive His Word. All while we wait for Him to act on the situation we currently find ourselves in. So many of us pray and simply ask God to fix the issue, then we give up because we do not see Him act upon our prayer instantaneously. What we need to do is allow Him to do what He wants, we need to shut our mouths and watch Him do it. The psalmist continues to anticipate the times so that he can study the Word of God. He reminds the Lord to be faithful and revive him. He is continuously leaning on the Lord.
However, we come to a part where the psalmist changes his approach, now he directs his attention to what is happening around him. At first this might look like he is taking his attention off of Christ, but he is not. He is now looking at the situation he finds himself in and is eagerly looking for the workings God, knowing that God is faithful to those who are His.
150 Those who follow after wickedness approach;
They are far from Your Law.
The psalmist is making an observation of the situation but is keeping his eyes fixated on the one who can rescue him. However, in verse 151 we see that the psalmist is identifying the workings of the Lord. He knows that God is actively working in his personal life, but also in the lives of those who are seeking Him.
151 You are near, Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth.
The psalmist ends with concluding a rather remarkable answer to his issue. No where in the verses do we see God showing up and getting rid of the wickedness that approaches, but rather God answers the psalmist by reminding him of God’s Word. Verse 152 states,
152 From long ago I have known from Your testimonies
That You have founded them forever.”
The psalmist is encouraged by the very Word of God. So many Christians believe the greatest power we have are the spiritual gifts. This could not be more wrong, our greatest treasure, weapon, and life changing gift is the very Word of God. And like the psalmist, we as believers today in 2020 need to reflect on God’s Word and know He is in control. We need to keep our eyes and ears focused on what He has declared and not what the world had attempted to assert.
To my fellow American believers out there, this is not the time to lose heart or hope with the assertation of the world, but rather lean on the Word of God and seek the Blessed Hope who is Jesus Christ.
For those believers all around the world, I do not know what 2021 holds but as we move into the holidays and transition into 2021 I can tell you this, if Christ is with us, whom shall we fear? Neither the gates of Hell nor Hell itself can stand in the way of Jesus Christ’s gospel and those who are ordained to share it to the world. We as believers need to stay focused on the race before us and fight the good fight. I leave with the words of Jude who stated to his fellow believers in his day, Jude verse 21-25 “21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
24 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming
JL