There is a street I go to near my house that I can park on and face the gulf, the water has always been a place of peace, comfort, and closeness to the Lord for me. Coming to this street, watching the water, seeing the wind blow the trees and Spanish moss, hearing the waves crash and birds sing, it’s so peaceful.
My husband and I have 6 jobs between the two of us, during the week, as you can imagine, we don’t spend too much time together from one job to the next. We cherish the time we get between them. A few weeks ago, he got home late which meant we had about 20 minutes before he had to leave for work and I had to leave to teach. Before arriving home, I got a text from our neighbor that our power was out, she said, “a transformer blew up and I heard it!” (Yikes!) This meant that the food we had meal prepped to make our nights run more smoothly, was unavailable. So, we went to job #1 for him where he gets a 50% discount and got dinner. He had to quickly leave for the next job so we decided to eat separately.
Rather than going home to a hot house, I decided to go over to the street I mentioned earlier and have dinner in the car by the water. After I finished eating, I walked down to better see the water and thought about my perspective. These situations; my husband working later that day, not having much time together in the first place, our power being out, having to go get dinner, not being able to eat together, and whatever else happened that day, could have caused a bad attitude and I could have allowed it to ruin my night. I decided right then to make a choice, I could either be mad about all these situations that happened, or be grateful that; my husband and I have jobs, we got to see each other for the short time we did, that I have my wonderful husband in the first place, that we were able to get a yummy dinner with a discount, that I had a beautiful view for dinner. I chose the latter.
I was reminded that our perspective changes when we get in the presence of the Lord, when we seek His face. Like the Lord tells us in Psalm 73, He is our strength and our portion, it doesn’t matter what our circumstances look like at the moment. It’s His Word that is truth.
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Psalm 73:25-26
In Psalm 73, the author starts out frustrated with the sinful people in their city, in verse 17 we see a change; “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end.” As you read on in the chapter, notice how the authors thoughts and words change from confusion and frustration to worship and compassion after he gets in the secret place and spends time with the Lord. In verse 28, he recognizes the change after spending time with the Lord. He then says all his trust is in the Lord; it doesn’t matter what is happening around him.
As this chapter closes, we see the author reminded of his purpose; “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works.” He puts his trust in the Lord that, so that, he may declare, or tell of, all the works of the Lord. He was reminded, and we can be, too, of his purpose when he got alone with God. What is the Lord asking you to shift your perspective of? What is on the other side of your praise as you declare the wonderous works of the Lord?
Do you need a perspective shift today? I would challenge you to read Psalm 73 and spend some time in the presence of the Lord. Maybe you are still stuck in those, verses 1-17, where all you can see is the frustration and chaos, friend, get quiet with the Lord, let Him speak to you, spend time with Him.