My plans aren’t your plans,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my plans than your plans.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (CEB)
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my plans than your plans.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (CEB)
As I have my morning coffee during my devotional reading and prayer time, I am often confronted with ideas and questions that convict me before the caffeine has kicked it. The day I started a devotional on prayer based on the teachings of Oswald Chambers, the very first question stopped me mid-sip: When was the last time [you] tried to see an issue from God’s perspective rather than ask Him to see it from [yours]?
Maybe I shouldn’t be confessing this in a blog about bold discipleship! I do end most of my prayers asking God to "sort my selfish requests from those that will build His kingdom"—and I do understand that what I want isn’t always what God wants. But when was the last time I made an effort to really see an issue from God’s perspective?
How does God see the in issues my church? How does God see my students who have already missed classes this early in the semester? How does God see Joel Osteen or President Trump or the people from Mexico offering aid during Hurricane Harvey’s devastation in Texas? How does God see my stewardship of time, talents, and resources? How does God see a friend’s battle with cancer—or a long search for a job? How about the hit and run driver in Elkhart? How does God see the flowers in my garden—the praise team at Bethel—the bittersweet feelings of parents dropping that first child off at college and driving away? How did God see the memorial service I attended this weekend?
A Brandon Heath song a few years ago asked God to “give me Your eyes for just one second.” Can you imagine all that God sees in one second? One of my character flaws is that I generally think I am right (“generally,” believe it or not, is progress from “always”). The idea of seeing an issue from God’s perspective has slowed me down a bit in making requests during prayer time and in looking at the world around me, good and bad, from another angle.
Maybe I shouldn’t be confessing this in a blog about bold discipleship! I do end most of my prayers asking God to "sort my selfish requests from those that will build His kingdom"—and I do understand that what I want isn’t always what God wants. But when was the last time I made an effort to really see an issue from God’s perspective?
How does God see the in issues my church? How does God see my students who have already missed classes this early in the semester? How does God see Joel Osteen or President Trump or the people from Mexico offering aid during Hurricane Harvey’s devastation in Texas? How does God see my stewardship of time, talents, and resources? How does God see a friend’s battle with cancer—or a long search for a job? How about the hit and run driver in Elkhart? How does God see the flowers in my garden—the praise team at Bethel—the bittersweet feelings of parents dropping that first child off at college and driving away? How did God see the memorial service I attended this weekend?
A Brandon Heath song a few years ago asked God to “give me Your eyes for just one second.” Can you imagine all that God sees in one second? One of my character flaws is that I generally think I am right (“generally,” believe it or not, is progress from “always”). The idea of seeing an issue from God’s perspective has slowed me down a bit in making requests during prayer time and in looking at the world around me, good and bad, from another angle.
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