Skip to main content

Different Perspectives


          Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands.  Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in their houses, and their righteousness endures forever.  Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous.  Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.  Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.  They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord.  Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes.  They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.  The wicked will see and be vexed, they will gnash their teeth and waste away; the longings of the wicked will come to nothing. (Psalm 112:1-10)

          There was a time when I would have understood this passage to say that only the children of the upright will be mighty in the land; and only the generation of the upright would be blessed, that wealth and riches would only be in their houses… that only the righteous would never be shaken. I would have believed that the righteous would not be shaken because nothing would happen that would shake them. They would not have no fear, but nothing to fear, and that their triumph over their foes would be found in beating their foes to a bloody pulp (at least figuratively.)
          One of the cool things about working on Earth Fire for the past three years is that I’ve gotten to spend time with a character named Estaen, and one of the things that he’s taught me is that the way I see things isn’t the way those in heaven see things. Oh, I know some people will say that they could have told me that, but the way those in heaven see things may well not be the way they see things either. What we see as good and triumph, God may see as selfishness and defeat. What we call darkness and light might truly be all twilight. I’m not saying that those facing hard time haven’t reached the level that entitles them to sympathy, and I don’t think that’s heaven’s perspective either. Sympathy don’t have a threshold requirement. That doesn’t mean its perceived in the same way.
          One of Estaen’s suggestions is that we stop seeing the part as the whole.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more