I read a story the other day about a man who had it pretty bad by the world’s standards – a true ‘when bad things happen to good people’ kind of story. He was an incredibly wealthy man who used his fortune to help people in need – giving to the poor, defending people who could not defend themselves and becoming like a father to the fatherless in his community. He raised decent kids who seemed pretty content and who got along with each other – regularly dining together – and he worried over them like any good father would. But his entire world crashed in. All his wealth was stolen from him. In an unforeseeable, unavoidable, tragic fire all his children were killed. And he was stricken with illness that didn’t take his life but made his life basically unbearable. I read this story and think how unbelievably bad this was; I think if I was this guy I really don’t know how I would even get to the next moment. His life seemed all out hopeless.
The other day I had an emoji cup of coffee transformed to hot chocolate by a friend. I was complaining about the lack of the right emoji’s when I wanted them and he sent that cup of coffee back and said we could choose to make it hot chocolate – we could see it however we wanted. It was our power in how we chose to see what was in front of us. This was a complete and total game changer.
In the bible, David is a great example of someone who chose to see things God’s way instead of the world’s. The Israelite army (the world) shook in fear and hid from the giant Goliath. David saw God’s victory and as a pip-squeak sized shepherd boy – took out the giant with nothing more than a sling shot and a river rock.
1 Samuel 17:23-24 “As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance; and David heard it. Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in fear.”
1 Samuel 17:45-47 “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head this very day. I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands.”
David faced what the world feared based on worldly standards of the chance of survival – and he looked instead from the security and confidence of God’s victory. He chose to look at the giant differently. He chose to look at the unconquerable as already conquered because he knew God was greater. David never faltered. He even discarded the king’s armor, it didn’t fit right and he knew he didn’t need it anyway – he was already looking at the giant from God’s victory instead of the world’s defeat.
“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Wayne Dyer
How much could we change in this world if we chose to look at things through God’s victory – through God’s eyes instead of the worlds.
Acts 20:24 “However, I consider my life worth living to me, my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”
We are all in a race – but it is not won by the world’s standards. Winning is not about crossing the finish line first. Winning is not about being the one to break the ribbon. We are in a race we can all win; there is not one gold medal but unlimited eternity. It is all in the way that we choose to look at the course we are on and the people running around us in our world.
For a large part of my life, I defined myself by the world’s view point. My worth was tied to what I did – my job… my title. My worth was tied to who I knew, how popular I was, or how many guys I could get to “love’ me. My view was definitely the world’s view – and I was not even in the race God had laid out before me. I was lost and empty, I could find no victory or value because I wasn’t even in the game. The way I chose to see myself and my word was clouded by the world and therefore I was clouded. I kept striving for all the things that the world kept telling me was important. More money, more success, more education, more friends, more guys… MORE! More of everything except the only thing that had any real value. And my clouded vision affected the way that I saw everything. My job was someplace I had to show up, perform and survive the people around me. Guys were the only way I could find “love”. I didn’t see value in myself, didn’t believe I was worth the best, so I had to give up a lot of myself just to get good enough for the moment. Everything in front of me – even the successes – was so darkened by the way I chose to see life that my whole world was dark.
I have flown a lot in my life. I actually really enjoy it – seeing God’s creation from a distance. With all that time in the sky I have learned a lot about vision in clouds. When the plane takes off and starts to climb – it doesn’t take long before we begin to encounter clouds. Often they start small, puffs that come here and there. But then you go all in, the whole plane is in the middle of clouds and you can’t see a thing. It is the part of the flight I don’t like. I wonder how the pilot can possibly see anything – how he/she can know what they are flying into – and I start to feel closed in. I am closed in by my inability to see beyond the fuzzy cloudy distortion outside my window.
But then…
We break out. And once we have broken free of the clouds, all I can see is brilliant, blue sunshine filled light. This light brings me back to a place of security and freedom. I don’t see anything below me, but I find I don’t need to see it. Happiness is just being fully inside that clear light. That is where the joy in this life comes… just as the plane breaks through into real light – no longer distorted by the clouds – so did I. I encountered Jesus and I took a whole new way of thinking and living into my heart. Light broke into my world and shattered the clouds that had been distorting my vision. My life was no longer about all the “mores” the world demanded. I entered the race I was intended to be running all along; everything for one goal, one winning end – testifying the grace of God. It is the only task I have been given – and to focus on that task is to enter God’s purpose for me… and to win.
My job is no longer something to be endured but instead is the course that God has placed me on to bring His kingdom to earth – to testify to His amazing grace to the coworkers that surround me. It is a place where I can let my life, my work, my integrity shine God’s light to draw others to His grace. Sickness is no longer hopeless but an opportunity for God’s miracles and healing to occur and where God’s light can bring testimony of His grace to those waiting and watching. I choose now to see the world around me free of the clouds – bathed in the bright light found only when I smash through the clouds. I choose to see the world and the giants it tries to throw in my path the way David choose to look at Goliath, firmly, confidently, through the eyes of God’s grace and victory that is already won.
If you have never read the story of Corrie Ten Boom – a Dutch Christian who save many Jews during WWII and ended up in a concentration camp as a result – you should. It is an awe inspiring story. One part I have heard in many talks was all about fleas. Yes, fleas! Corrie and her sister ended up in a dorm at the concentration camp that was infested with fleas – her sister insisted that – as instructed in God’s word – they should be thankful for everything — including the fleas. She looked at the fleas through God’s victory instead of seeing them through the itchy, uncomfortable, infestation of clouds. Turns out, their dorm was left completely unsupervised — none of the guards would enter it. They wouldn’t enter it because of the fleas. And because they were left alone, Corrie and her sister were able to boldly hold bible study and share Jesus’ word with the women in their dorm. Turns out, God’s victory was right there in the fleas!
What fleas are invading your life? What clouds do you need to break free from — to break free to see the clear light of God that enables you to see His victory where the world keeps shouting defeat? Where can you choose to look at people or situations differently than the world?
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘do not consider His appearance or His height, for I have rejected Him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Don’t see the outward appearance of material things. Don’t see the outward appearance of anger, addiction, depression or sin. Don’t see the outward appearance that the world labeled you – or others around you – with.
Choose to smash the clouds.
Choose to look through God’s eyes – look at the heart that with God – even in the dark world – is victory. Choose to look at the heart that with God – even in the trials and failures – is victory. Remember that even in the very worst – you can choose to see the very best.
That guy I started this story with – chances are you have actually already heard of him. His name is Job, and even in the middle of absolutely everything going agains him – even as he questioned why him and was crying out to God who he felt had abandoned him – even in the worst of the worst… he clung to the victory and glorious grace of God. He never became clouded by the world’s vision (and the even more clouded vision of his not-so-helpful friends). But he kept clinging – kept choosing – to see through God’s light and power. That light held what was the victory for Job.
Job 42:12 “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part…”
Smash the clouds.
Choose to see in the light. The victory is already won.
“My goal is to create a metaphor that changes our reality by charming people into considering the world in a different way.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk
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