Same Reality, Different Perspective

I love hearing the backstories of people who've "made it" in their field of expertise. I find it very interesting to hear how they started their journey, and the good and not so good parts of the experiences that led them to where they ended up in life.

Recently, I viewed an episode from a documentary series about famous chefs, and this particular chef's closing comment sent me collecting pen and paper because it so aligned with something the Holy Spirit has been emphasizing over the past month or so during my morning quiet times in the Word.

"It's still exactly the same place. It's just that I see it differently."

The episode highlighted a Swedish chef who'd made an international name for himself, doing so in a familiar setting that he didn't always value. After leaving home, he studied at a culinary school in a rural area of Sweden before moving on to an institute in Paris where he eventually obtained a job under a reputable chef at a Michelin starred restaurant, only to find himself years later back in the "middle of nowhere"— the unchanged environment he was once discontent in, with no aspirations of ever remaining.

Certainly, it was his shift in perspective about this environment that had made all the difference in his coming into an unforeseen purpose, right in the midst of it.

I think there's much to be spiritually gleaned from this chef's earthly revelation.

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Consider for a moment the history of the Children of Israel prior to the exploration of Canaan, described for us in the thirteenth chapter of Numbers (a book I've found myself in a lot lately). Even though God's faithfulness, goodness, mercy, grace and provision had been continuously bestowed upon His people (along with every other attribute He perfectly possesses), His children consistently struggled with having the right perspective. They consistently succumbed to a flesh-driven point of view of their present-day situation. And more times than not, they lost touch with reality—not earth's reality, of course, but Heaven's.

Oh, what was forfeited because of it!

There's no denying that God's people had a history of experiencing a fair share of undesirable realities: Egypt. Pharoah. Bondage. The Red Sea. The desert. No food. No water. Enemies all around. However, in spite of these very real, very hard matters, there was the Creator of All in their midst. The Living God going behind them and before them. And out of all the people of the earth, He had chosen them to be His treasured possession.

Yes, throughout their earthly sojourn there were so many unfavorable circumstances; but even more so, there was the overarching, overseeing, overpowering reality of a faithful, provisional God who had declared His covenant promises over their lives.

Yet, in spite of the up-close evidence of God's awe and majesty and fatherly goodness, which they repeatedly experienced and benefited from, they frequently did not focus on the right things. Their perspective, all too often, was skewed by what they saw with earthly eyes and believed with oscillating hearts. So when the time arrived to explore Canaan, the majority just couldn't bring themselves to trust the Almighty or believe that He would do what He'd already declared.

God's righteous panorama had been replaced by their unrighteous perspective.

Truth declared had been shoved aside by deception.

It's so unfortunate—tragic, actually—that God's deeply loved, chosen children routinely chose to not trust and rest in Him.

May this not be true of me.

May this not be true of you.

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Last weekend, I went to a women's conference at the church I attend in Alabama. I was amazed—well, not really, because this is how God often works and the Spirit moves—when some of the scriptures referenced and statements made were the very things God has been recently addressing in my quiet times, as though the speaker had been made privy to my journal and my Bible and all that God's holy highlighter has been pointing out in my private sessions with Him. Even made privy to parts of this blog, already previously written.

One subject addressed was this very topic of perspective. The speaker's message centered around this same passage in Numbers 13, and she delivered a most anointed word about the false scripts of defeat and discouragement that we write, instead of constructing narratives of victory, via the panorama of Scripture's truth.

Ok, God, I thought as I sat there, I'm hearing you. Truly hearing you. Forgive my recent moments of unbelief. Forgive me for allowing a skewed, false perspective even a single dominating minute. Forgive me for giving the undesirable realities of my environment more attention in my mind than the absolute Truth of the words you've already declared over my circumstances. Forgive me for succumbing to a negative, complaining, I-don't-deserve-this heart. Forgive me for allowing worry and "woe is me" to weaken my worship. Forgive me. Forgive me. Forgive me.

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In every season and every day, throughout the sojourn that is my life, I have a choice. And so do you. Will I trust my Heavenly Father and believe every word of His declared Word, in spite of present-day encounters and long-enduring realities? Will I? Will your perspective remain grounded in Him and the true words He's declared over your life, through every season and every unchanging fact? Will it? Or will our narratives be scripted and skewed by what's understood by a natural perspective and a wavering heart (and wavering emotions)?

And, if God's sovereign, permissible will prescribes that you and I remain in "exactly the same place," in terms of a less-than-desirable reality that remains unaltered, will we choose to "see it differently," having a perspective that's conquered by the unseen, not contaminated by the seen?

Will we be like the Children of Israel? Will we doubt, will we fear? Will we internally rumble and grumble? Will we outwardly complain and disobey? Will we influence others to do the same? Or, will you and I be Hebrews 11 followers of the Most High, believing, trusting, obeying, and worshiping, in spite of what is, living daily life by His declared words, come what may?

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No matter the undesirable position or place you or I might presently in, foundational to living out His purposes in such situations or seasons is faith.

It's always about faith.

Always about trusting our Father—trusting His character, His heart.

Always about trusting that He knows way more than we think we know. About anything and anyone. Past, present, and future.

Always about maintaining a righteous perspective, one that's seeped in, saturated with, and shaped by His true Word.

Always about believing in our core that He will indeed do what He's said He will do.

When we do this, day in and day out, we'll find ourselves coming into and living out His righteous purposes, even in the midst of less-than-desirable environments.

Which, sadly, is exactly what the Israelites did not do.

But, glory hallelujah, is exactly what the Savior did!

Fellow sojourner, may we look daily to Him and His example to show us how it's done.