CJ and I have the privilege of renting a condo in Florida this month with a balcony view of the ocean and sunrise, as well as a view of the sunset! It is one the 9th floor, the top floor of this unit, and I learned it is a “penthouse condo” because it’s on the top floor. This is our first time with a view of the ocean, and it is truly beautiful! As we look out and hear the constant roaring of the waves (day and night), I recognize that I can see more, and see farther, than most other people in this condo unit, and certainly more than those mere mortals down on the ground! I can see why some people fall prey to getting a little “uppity” when they have penthouse views, and can somehow think of themselves as a little better and more special than those who don’t. Of course, for enough money, anybody can have any view they want.
On the other hand, as I look at out at my privileged view, I also realize I have no power whatsoever over anything that happens below. When the water is calm (which it rarely is) I may be able to see some sharks swimming close to the beach and somehow warn swimmers, but in reality with the crashing waves they probably wouldn’t hear me anyway. The beauty and power of the ocean and sky reminds me of the fact that God created all of this, and it beautiful, it is awesome and sometimes frightening, and always beyond our control of what happens below. Most of us struggle managing our day to day lives, and have no control over the circumstances that will come our way in this coming year. So when we make New Year’s resolutions of better health, happiness, and even wealth, we may work diligently toward those desires, but also know there is no guarantee of any of that! CJ and I walked these beaches a year ago with no idea that she had stage 4 metastatic cancer, and no idea that that I would have gall bladder surgery. To be truthful, most of don’t want to know the struggles, suffering, and unforeseen circumstances we may face this year. If we did, it would terrify us at times and leave us feeling hopeless. So while we all love the ocean and mountaintop views of God’s beautiful world, none of us choose to see the view of our life into the future, and even if we did, we would not have the power or the strategy to deal with it on our own!
So I want to suggest to you a different “view from the top” this year: the one that God has of our lives! God sees and knows everything we do, what we will choose to do, and he knows our future, down to the very moment when we die. This is wonderfully good news, because loves us more than we can imagine, and ultimately wants to redeem us from the chains of sin and give us a new life of peace, joy, and his very presence. As Paul reminds us: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)(And, best of all, He alone has the power to do all of this!) But in order to receive God’s grace and guidance in our life, we must let him be God, and trust him with every aspect and fiber of our lives.
In Isaiah 55: 6-9 it says, 6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
God’s ways and thoughts are much higher than ours, but that means we must recognize three very important implications of this.
1) God’s higher ways and thoughts are NOT the same as ours!
Most people, and even most Christians, began this year with a “best scenario” wish list. We want good health, enjoyment for our work and lives, and families that get along well and prosper. That’s human nature. But according to the Bible, God sees things differently. He knows we live in a world stained by sin and under the influence of evil. So, ALL of us will struggle in many ways. We will have physical ailments, we will have marriage and family conflicts at times, and we will most likely all lose a friend or family member to death. It’s probably very likely that of the millions who read my blog (just kidding), at least one of us will die this year. I know, this seems like a “bummer” of a message to start the new year with!
2) Because God thinks and acts differently than we may wish, are we still willing to let him be God in our lives?
Most people, even we Christians, too often worship a counterfeit God of our own creation! We want a God who thinks and sees the world just as we do. We want him to bless our plans and ideas, and if he doesn’t, we question his intentions! How often do you hear others say (or say yourself?) “I can’t believe in a God who would allow this to happen to me”, or “I can’t believe in a God who would judge people like this! Isn’t he a God of love?” With questions like that, what we really want is a God of our own creation, a projection of our own wisdom, our own self. But God calls us to worship his glory, which is the combined magnitude of all his attributes and qualities put together. The glory of God is his infinite beyondness, meaning he is more than we can ever imagine or even think of! So as good as our thoughts & plans may seem to us, he has something far better for us in the long view of eternal life.
3) To truly trust God with our lives and plans, we need to recognize his purpose in everything that happens to us, especially the trials and suffering of life!
James, the brother of Jesus, reminds us: 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. – James 1:2-8 (NIV)
James is not saying to be joyful because of trials and troubles! Rather, when you go through trials, recognize and rejoice that God is using that experience as a test of your faith to develop perseverance in you. And as you grow in perseverance, God helps you to mature so that you lack nothing, meaning you will have the tools and resources in God to face any trail or difficulty that will come your way in the future. God want us to trust him fully every day, so we will have his wisdom and understanding that HE is always with us and we are never alone! But when we doubt that, we become spiritually unstable and are tossed around by waves of fear, panic, and anxiety, crashing down just like I see the waves crashing into the beach all day long, totally out of control.
Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 8 that God uses everything that happens to us to draw us closer to him, to make us stronger and more dependent upon him:
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.-Romans 8:28-39 (NIV)
So for this new year in 2020, I wish you much more than what you may have thought you desired. Surely God wants us to enjoy the beauty of this world, whether it’s a penthouse view of the ocean or a calm walk in the woods. He wants us to celebrate the wonderful relationship experiences with close friends and family. He wants us to find meaning and purpose and joy in our work and activities. But more than that, God wants us to begin to understand the bigger view of life that he has for us, and wants us to trust him with every area of our life, now and forever!
I pray that you and I both will remember that everything that happens to us this year, the joys and celebrations as well as the suffering and tragedies, can be used by God to draw us closer to him and make us stronger. Max Lucado said “God loves us just the way we are; but he loves us too much to leave us that way. He wants us to become like Jesus”. To “become like Jesus”, God intends to use every experience in life to mold us, to stretch and change us, and to draw us closer to him. Sometimes those experiences will be wonderful; often they will be painful and difficult. But God promises that all of this, the good and the painful, can lead us to a future of hope and joy and peace, a Kingdom that will last forever and be free of sin and death and evil. But to get there, we have to trust him with all of our life: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We have to trust that he sees and knows and loves infinitely more than we can ever imagine.
Are we willing to trust God’s higher and more profound view of our life and world?
Are we willing to let God truly be God in our life?
Or, do we just want a God that thinks and acts like us?
The choice is ours, and it will make all the difference in our life this year!
I pray this year is one of trust in God, purpose, and hope for you!