What Looms Large in Your Life?

While vacationing in the Adirondacks this summer, my family and I had the opportunity to drive to the top of Whiteface Mountain, one of the tallest peaks in that region. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and the visibility from the summit that day was over 50 miles. Before we reached the top though, we pulled off at a scenic overlook. There I happened to take a picture of my son Brendon standing on a large stone with the mountain in the back ground. At that point we still had around 1000 ft. of elevation to climb before we reached the peak. Looking back at my pictures from that afternoon though, it amuses me to see how from the angle of the picture, Brendon appears twice as tall as the mountain, and the stone he was standing on, as big as the mountain (see the picture above to the right). Interestingly, from the mountain peak I took a picture of that same scenic overlook that we had stopped at, and you can’t even see the large stone, unless you zoom in the camera lens. (see the picture above to the left)

The difference between these two photos, of course, is the perspective from which they were taken. It made me think of the power of perspective in our lives. Whatever we are close to seems big to us. Whatever our eyes are fixed on consumes our thoughts.

So what looms large in your life: your work, your children, a hobby? Our lives are often consumed by problems or trials that threaten to overwhelm us: financial trouble, marriage or other relationship trouble, shattered dreams, chronic pain, a debilitating disease, cancer, loss of a loved one, and more.

So how do we keep from being overwhelmed with life? Well, finding an accurate perspective of reality is a good starting point, but where do we go? A news paper? A parent? A professor? A pastor? A mountain top? Unfortunately, all of these sources have blind spots. The most truth-loving and seeking person in the world, still has an incomplete knowledge of truth, and a distorted view of reality (1 Corinthians 3:19-20). The Bible states that in this life we see truth as if looking at it through the reflection of a bad mirror, (1 Corinthians 13:12). Our circumstances, our physical and mental weakness, our fleshly desires (sin nature), and our past experiences all distort how we see reality. Even more, we live in a world of half-truths (lies), confusion, and deception- we live in a world where the evening news is filled with diametrically opposing viewpoints on the issues of life, each claiming facts and research that supposedly prove that their perspective is right and their opponents wrong.

Yet, there is One whose perspective is not clouded by any of these things. He sees how things really are. He is not limited by time because He was here before time began, and will be around when time ceases (1 Timothy 6:16). He is not limited by location because He exists everywhere (Omnipresent), and He sees everything that happens. He sees every time every blade of grass on this planet is bent by the wind; for He purposefully sent that wind. He knows every thought (Psalm 139:2) and every feeling that crosses the mind of every human being that has ever or will ever live, because He is the one who sends the circumstances that move each of us. Not one of these details is ever lost in his memory because He knows all things (Omniscient). Likewise, there is no detail that is a distant memory to Him because He transcends time and actually exists in the past, present, and future all at the same time! Who is this I am speaking of? I am sure you have guessed it is God! The Lord God Jehovah! The Holy Trinity of our Heavenly Father, His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit which actually lives in the hearts of those who believe!

God is the one being who knows the whole truth and who sees everything as it actually is. God knows your present problem better than you do, and he knows how it is going to work out (Psalm 139:16). Even more than that, He is directing your present problem, your pain and heart ache, as well as every detail of our lives to accomplish his perfect and unstoppable plan. And that plan is to save people from their sin and from the clutches of the evil powers of this world in order to bring many people to heaven to live with Him, to be loved by Him, in paradise forever! (Hebrews 2:10-18)

If we could see our problems from God’s perspective we would see that most of them just appear big to us. As to the problems in life which actually are big, they are still nothing compared to the infinitely big God who loves us! Like the rock Brendon was standing on disappeared when viewed from the top of Whiteface Mountain, even our biggest problems will eventually disappear from our view when we are finally face to face with our Lord and Creator in heaven!

For now, the key to getting through today’s problems is to come closer to our Heavenly Father, through getting to know the Lord Jesus (John 14:6). For Jesus is the exact representation of the Father in human form (Hebrews 1:3; John 14:9). As we get to know Him from the pages of the Bible, we not only begin to develop an accurate perspective as to what is true, but we find that Jesus is the solution to life’s problems! For He died on the cross to pay for our sins, and then rose again so that anyone who confesses their sin and trusts in Jesus will be granted eternal life in heaven, and be adopted as a son or daughter into God’s family! 

For Further Study:

If you want help getting to know God better, please contact us at Grace Baptist (585) 335-6190.

Two books which are helpful in learning more about the amazing truth of what our Great God is like, are:

“The Attributes of God” by A.W. Pink

“The Knowledge of the Holy” by A.W. Tozer

A passage to contemplate is Psalm 33

Check out the Apostle Paul’s perspective on life: Philippians 1:22-24; 4:11-13

Romans 8:28- “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.”