I can see clearly now the rain is gone. Gone are the dark clouds. It is going to be a sunshiny day.
My youngest son has a wonderful ability to remember places. We have traveled through towns that we may have last seen years before, but as we came across familiar scenes, he could recall the past: “This is where we had a puncture or this is where we laundered our holiday clothes.”
Unfortunately, Dan is still young, so he still has a limited perspective. He cannot see a whole city, region or country in perspective. He can tell us exactly how to get to school or church and a few other places, because his neural pathways are developing and maturing. But as he grows and fills out, his perspective will change, the gaps will close, the loose ends will come together and he will have a full perspective on the world he lives in.
This principle is true in the spiritual world as well. When we are novices, we have a somewhat binary relationship with God. We ask, He gives. He asks, we obey. Our perspectives on sin, satan, the world and other spiritual landmarks are also disjointed and incomplete.
But, Solomon (Proverbs 18:10) spoke of God’s name being a high tower that the righteous run into and are safe. He also found perspective through lifting himself above his surroundings, but he gained that perspective through the name of God. In the process he found safety or refuge from the storms of life.
Much of our insecurity results from wrong perspectives. We tend to fear what we don’t understand, which is what spurns superstition and misunderstandings of God’s heart for us. When we retreat into the fortress of His name, it lifts us to a new vista and restores our perspectives. It makes the struggle of life and the enemy of our souls relatively small, but the vastness of God and of His power, very great.
Solomon’s words suggest that we can bypass normal growing up cycles by ascending to a higher point, through our knowledge of His name. We can lift ourselves, but my son can only wait for his turn. That said, Danny has taken to sitting on the kitchen floor to listen to worship CD’s, so he too has lifted his spiritual perspectives even if his life perspectives remain stunted by his youth.
Paul, in Ephesians 6 said concerning our spiritual struggles, that we are equipped to stand. Our spiritual armour enables us to hold our ground and resist the devil (James 4:7). Satan cannot easily push us off our position in Christ, but will use every trick in the book to lure us away from our position of strength and authority: in the high tower of His name.
The devils also believe in Jesus name and they tremble. Believing His name can be purely theoretical if it applies that name as a kind of mantra. But a proper understanding of His name and what it represents is a sure tower of refuge where we are safe and blessed with a proper perspective of our life struggles. Part of our battle is won simply in seeing our struggles in context, understanding that we are in a war and that so much is at stake. But with that perspective comes an understanding of how much was secured in the death and resurrection of Christ, the foundation of our faith. Those contexts give us real stature in the face of dark contradictions and they push back our enemy, for his one great hope is to confuse our thinking and darken our minds about who we are and what we have in Jesus.
Paul also had a high tower, which is explored in Ephesians 2:5-6, saying “We are alive in Him and seated with Christ in heavenly places.” This flows from Ephesians 1:22, where God shows that He put all things under His feet. So the place of seating (not even standing, but seating as a ruler would do), is on top of a pile of ruins that represent the victories of Christ over our enemies. He has divided His spoils amongst us and given us a place of authority at His side, above a fallen foe.
That is God’s perspective, even if it is not always our own perspective.
My youngest son has a wonderful ability to remember places. We have traveled through towns that we may have last seen years before, but as we came across familiar scenes, he could recall the past: “This is where we had a puncture or this is where we laundered our holiday clothes.”
Unfortunately, Dan is still young, so he still has a limited perspective. He cannot see a whole city, region or country in perspective. He can tell us exactly how to get to school or church and a few other places, because his neural pathways are developing and maturing. But as he grows and fills out, his perspective will change, the gaps will close, the loose ends will come together and he will have a full perspective on the world he lives in.
This principle is true in the spiritual world as well. When we are novices, we have a somewhat binary relationship with God. We ask, He gives. He asks, we obey. Our perspectives on sin, satan, the world and other spiritual landmarks are also disjointed and incomplete.
But, Solomon (Proverbs 18:10) spoke of God’s name being a high tower that the righteous run into and are safe. He also found perspective through lifting himself above his surroundings, but he gained that perspective through the name of God. In the process he found safety or refuge from the storms of life.
Much of our insecurity results from wrong perspectives. We tend to fear what we don’t understand, which is what spurns superstition and misunderstandings of God’s heart for us. When we retreat into the fortress of His name, it lifts us to a new vista and restores our perspectives. It makes the struggle of life and the enemy of our souls relatively small, but the vastness of God and of His power, very great.
Solomon’s words suggest that we can bypass normal growing up cycles by ascending to a higher point, through our knowledge of His name. We can lift ourselves, but my son can only wait for his turn. That said, Danny has taken to sitting on the kitchen floor to listen to worship CD’s, so he too has lifted his spiritual perspectives even if his life perspectives remain stunted by his youth.
Paul, in Ephesians 6 said concerning our spiritual struggles, that we are equipped to stand. Our spiritual armour enables us to hold our ground and resist the devil (James 4:7). Satan cannot easily push us off our position in Christ, but will use every trick in the book to lure us away from our position of strength and authority: in the high tower of His name.
The devils also believe in Jesus name and they tremble. Believing His name can be purely theoretical if it applies that name as a kind of mantra. But a proper understanding of His name and what it represents is a sure tower of refuge where we are safe and blessed with a proper perspective of our life struggles. Part of our battle is won simply in seeing our struggles in context, understanding that we are in a war and that so much is at stake. But with that perspective comes an understanding of how much was secured in the death and resurrection of Christ, the foundation of our faith. Those contexts give us real stature in the face of dark contradictions and they push back our enemy, for his one great hope is to confuse our thinking and darken our minds about who we are and what we have in Jesus.
Paul also had a high tower, which is explored in Ephesians 2:5-6, saying “We are alive in Him and seated with Christ in heavenly places.” This flows from Ephesians 1:22, where God shows that He put all things under His feet. So the place of seating (not even standing, but seating as a ruler would do), is on top of a pile of ruins that represent the victories of Christ over our enemies. He has divided His spoils amongst us and given us a place of authority at His side, above a fallen foe.
That is God’s perspective, even if it is not always our own perspective.
(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com
No comments:
Post a Comment