PERSPECTIVE

This morning I found a chain of tracks in the mud, coyote I think. They crossed the field next to my office in a purposeful way, straight ahead and deliberate. I followed them until they came to a place where they ended amidst scattered fur, rabbit I think. The evidence of a kill spoke to me of success. I was glad for the coyote, excited even. I suppose the scene could of just as easily spoken to me of the rabbit's failure, but I thought of success first. Perhaps that was because I had been following the coyote's tracks and had thus come to view this as its story. So I viewed the killing of the rabbit from the coyote's perspective- a triumph! I wonder though, if I had been following the rabbit's tracks first, instead of the coyote's, would I have been preconditioned to view the spot where they met as a sad sort of tragedy?

I think probably.

It made me question my response to world events, sports, and interpersonal conflict. Are all my feelings of anguish and elation just a matter of perspective? Is it all just the stuff of prejudice?

What is the correct perspective? Who is right? Who is wrong? What is the truth? God alone sees things perfectly. God's perspective must be true for He is truth. We all are naked before Him. He is the one who will one day lay bare all that has been done in the open and in secret, and judge it in perfect righteousness.

That's the view from my house.

But how often do I see things from God's perspective? Certainly not always. I would dare say, not even most of the time. My heart is up and down, it's all around, it spins and dances like a drunken thing. How can I get God's perspective? I want to see things from His angle. I want the peace and confidence that must come from such a vantage point.

I believe the key is God's word. The bible. What a harbor for the wave-tossed heart is the Bible. What a rock of certainty and truth. I have often run to it like a ship before the storm, and found an unrivaled peace in the safety of that harbor. It is God's perspective.

My fallen heart is a wind-blown and fickle thing, that's true, like a tuft of disembodied bunny fur swept aloft, and if I am not purposeful in my efforts to view things from God's perspective, renewing my mind daily through the study of His word, my heart will inevitably stray in its affections. I will be tempted to cooperate with the enemy, and make a peace with this world, to see things from its perspective. Maybe even to agree with that perspective. I don't ever want to drift into a position opposite the Almighty.


I have purposed in my heart to train my affections on the things of God through the disciplined study of His word, giving thanks to Him for rememembering that I am made of dust and for forgiving me when I stray. I am God's man, but all of my sinful inclinations threaten to sabotage the defenses of my heart like a traitor within.

"Search me O' God and know my heart
Test me and know my anxious thoughts
See if there is any offensive way in me
And lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm 139:23-24