A HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE
Habakkuk 3:17-19,
"Though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen, though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I'm singing joyful praise to God. I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on God's Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I'm king of the mountain!"
A beautiful morning in the Colorado mountains guiding elk hunters, it's something that has given me awesome memories over the last 30+ years. It's a place and experience that certainly reminds us of God's power and His love. This morning I was thinking back on a hunt on one beautiful morning. My client was a young doctor on his first out of state hunt. We were on a new ranch and venturing into an area I hadn't been in before. As we moved deeper in the new area I had been concentrating on finding the elk that were bugling and not my surroundings as much as I should have.
Late in the morning, after chasing elk for several miles, I realized I had no idea where we were. I had been looking down much of the morning looking for fresh elk sign and not looking up enough. Now we were deep into the dark timber. I wasn't worried about eventually finding our way back. But I worried about how long it would take to get there and how much energy we would spend. My hunter pulled a GPS from his pack and said, "I marked the truck and camp on my GPS, I can find the quickest way".
It didn't take that long when we knew the way. You see I had been looking down all day, but the GPS got it's signal from above and it was where the true direction and message came from. It kept us on the straight path and we were back where we should be way sooner than if we had relied on our own abilities.
Habakkuk learned how to trust God and not be affected by the negative stuff going on around him. He knew that no matter how bad things looked on the ground level, God was above and was in control. He knew that he had no real worries and could rejoice in all things.
When you're in a tight spot and problems are raging all around, there is a sense of uncertainty that tries to envelop the mind. If we are not careful, it is easy to get mentally sidetracked. By focusing on our problems and never looking up, we will fail to experience the peace of God. When we find ourselves concentrating on the daily issues and problems on an earthly level, we fail to look at it all from a Godly perspective. He has a view that not only clearly sees everything in the moment, but also sees everything in an eternal perspective. If we look at what we are going through with that same perspective, our problems disappear.
Isaiah 26:3 tells us,
"God will keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him!"
Whatever we are going through today, we need to stop looking at it from a ground level and start looking up to get a heavenly perspective. It will change everything.
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
Click the button to sign up for Dean’s Daily Devotional. FREE and delivered daily.