"At... Up... At"

"At… Up… At"

     

   

    I'm prone to oversimplification, and the following may fall into that category.  But, from the Biblical perceptive, I don't think so.  So here goes.  We look at.  We look Up.  We then again look at, but in the light of having looked Up.

   "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

   The Christian life involves the most intensely practical life we can experience.  It actually offers the only real way of looking at the matters of our existence.  God is, He exists.  He is dynamically involved in all things.  He loves us, and seeks our best interest in the things He determines and allows in our lives.  Thus, we only walk in reality as we walk in the light of Christ, the living Word, and the Bible, God's written Word.  As life occurs, therefore, we see it first from the human perspective of circumstances, conditions, and situations.  We cannot help this because our Heavenly Father hardwired us as earthly beings to experience and process earthly realities.  As spiritual beings in Christ, however, our Father directs our attention Heavenward to discover the Biblical, spiritual view of reality.  As blessings come our way, we realize their Source and give thanks.  Needs also direct our attention upward for remembrance of God's promised presence and provision.  In the light of this view, we then look again at life as it comes to us, but now in the illumination of our Lord and His truth.  At… Up… At again, but with a different perspective.

    The Apostle Paul illustrated this process for us in his testimony recorded in the second epistle to the Corinthians.  "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (II Corinthians 4:8-9).  Like all believers, trouble, perplexity, persecution, and attack came to Paul.  He experienced it, felt it, and processed it in the earthly terms that cannot be avoided.  However, our brother of old also consistently looked to Heaven.  He then looked again at the earthly realities that confronted him.  They appeared very different in the light of Heaven.  They will also look different to us as we view our issues accordingly.  Problems seen in the light of God and Scripture become possibilities.  Indeed, the cross that appeared to be utter disaster for both God and man actually glimmers before the eyes of believers as the hope of the ages.  All other challenges pale in comparison to Calvary.  What might the Lord do because He allowed or perhaps even determined this difficulty to come our way?  The Bible loses all meaning if we do not interpret its message in this illumination of problems actually being possibilities.  One thing we know for sure: without the challenges He allows or determines, many of God's greatest works in this present world cannot occur.  This was true of Calvary: no cross, no resurrection.  It is also true of our lives.  We therefore look at earthly realities that come our way.  Then, we look Up to see our Lord upon His throne.  Finally, we look at our challenge again, but this time, we see a fourth Form in our furnace, the One who joined the three young men of Daniel in the flames of their trial (Daniel 3:25).  We see Christ.  We see Him because we looked up through prayer and also by looking into the pages of Scripture wherein a different perspective presents its hope to our hearts.  At… Up… At, but in the light of Heaven, and Heaven's Christ...    

"In Thy light shall we see light."

(Psalm 36:9)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

(Proverbs 9:10)

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