Perspective is quite something.
We get an intimate close up. A man and his wife were living with his father’s family. Moving around with him from place to place. Eventually his father passes on and he hears a call to take his family to a different place to be given to them. He embarks on a journey that will last almost five decades.
In that time he will come across mighty rulers and spend some time in their lands. For fear of being killed, he’ll lie twice about the identity of his wife. He’ll become an even richer man because of the favour on his life. He’ll see his loved ones kidnapped and raise a battle crew to take on the kidnappers and return his people. He’ll forge alliances with interesting individuals and will keep moving from location to location. As his time passes, he’ll think he can’t have children with his beautiful wife and so take matters in his own hands causing a situation of strife in the camp. He will eventually and miraculously have a son with the woman he thought would never be able to produce especially at her advanced years in life. Then just when he thought things wouldn’t get any more challenging, he’s told to give up his only son of the promise and as an act of faith is about to go through with it when he is stopped and allowed to enjoy his son the rest of his days on earth. He lives to see that son gain a wife and then finally rests for the final time having completed his mission on earth.
That’s a brief summary of an action packed life of which we barely get to know half of it. All of that and we then discover that this is just the beginning of something extraordinary in the story of a man, a family, a tribe, a collection of tribes, a people, a nation and a beacon of hope for humanity.
It’s a sobering thought to consider in the immediacy of the intimate situation that we face, that it might appear consuming and perhaps even overwhelming, but take a few steps back and all of that in itself could just be the beginning of another chapter in the remarkable story of a beacon of hope for humanity. That’s why perspective can be an encouraging and humbling element of life to appreciate.
Even in your own life, you can look back and consider episodes that took place that appeared massive at the time, but looking back were only the end of a beginning rather than the beginning of the end of something. What helps with the perspective is putting it in the context in which the one who calls you has also completed the story in which you find yourself and the desired outcome of that story is a glorious one. There may be tears today, but the end is scheduled to see great rejoicing. There may be pain today, but there is healing and restoration ahead. There may be victory and celebration today, but there is something even better waiting for those who put their trust in the author and finisher of life.
It’s a particularly pertinent point of reflection for me. Recently I was conversing with my wife about what had happened in 2019 so far. Looking at that in the context of our 16 years of marriage and then in the nearly 20 years of knowing each other and then the over four decades on which we’ve walked on the planet, there was a distinct sense that in as much as there’s a lot going on, it just feels like the beginning of something. The same God who faithfully walked with Abraham and his wife Sarah, is the same God of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This same Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will walk with us as we embark on the next step of the journey.
That hope is not just reserved for my wife and I. It’s a hope worth embracing to help get some perspective on what may be going on in the immediacy of life.
(Photo by Rikki Chan on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 