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| The Universe Gives us Persepctive |
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE is a powerful remedy for the blues. This is often why people leave town when they are depressed. They need to see their circumstances from a new viewpoint. It is why people love to look at the stars on a summer’s night. Big things shrink our problems down to their appropriate size.
The Bible constantly invites us to take a fresh perspective. One of the most powerful invitations occurs in Isaiah 51.
“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations” (Isaiah 51:6–8, italics mine).
This passage reminds us of several important truths. First the heavens and earth are temporal. They will wear out. In fact, in light of the big picture, they are like smoke that quickly vanishes.
By contrast, God’s salvation in a reconfigured universe is eternal and substantial. Someday all of us will look back on this life. We will see it as the tiny blip in God’s cosmic purpose that it is.
Second, this passage urges us to fear God not man. In light of eternity our enemies and detractors are about as substantial as a garment. We store them for the winter and remove them in the Spring only to find that the moths have made a mess of them.
The bottom line is this. God’s righteousness and his salvation are forever. They are built on the power of resurrection life. By comparison, everything else is vapid, ethereal, and unsubstantial.
That is God entranced perspective, and it is one that magnifies joy.
