Greetings,
Perspective is a marvelous thing, isn’t it? One of its many definitions is: a true understanding of the relative importance of things; a sense of proportion. If we hear a child or a grandchild cry in a particular way, we can know if it’s a cry of pain or fear, anger, attention or maybe rebellion. And because we have come to understand the pitch, volume or tone of the various cries, we have a sense of how to respond to the child. Through the spirit that God put in man we’re able to discern such things.
But when the Holy Spirit is allowed to work with the spirit in man in a converted mind, our perspective far supersedes the physical. Perspectives change in a converted mind over time. In 2 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul started verse 7 with, “…Do you look at things according to the outward appearance?” He was encouraging a spiritual perspective, rather than just a physical one, because it was holding back their spiritual growth. That is how it works for any of us. We can recall what God told Samuel when he was sent to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as Israel’s next king. “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). God has a true understanding of what’s not seen on the surface — His perspective is spiritual. Understanding His perspective gives us a sense of how to respond to the choices we are faced with daily.
David wrote, “O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this.” (Psalm 92:5-6) Those who have rejected the Holy Spirit or have nearly done so, will only have a physical perspective. What looks good to God won’t look that way to them and, because of that, they will come to a bad end. Verse 7 says, “When the wicked spring like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish; it is that they may be destroyed forever.” Those who refuse the spiritual perspective, and only live for the physical moment, will only have the physical and death as their reward.
David, a man after God’s own heart, learned through life — and his own mistakes — to strive for the spiritual perspective. Thus, in verse 10 he said, “But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.” The horn is a symbol of power and strength and fresh oil — not old and rancid — is symbolic of the Holy Spirit and the good fruits and choices it produces. Spiritual strength and vitality, then, are the blessings of digging for the deep thoughts of God — His perspective. This will bring us contentment, in whatever circumstance we happen to find ourselves, even when we look around us and see the wicked flourishing.
Warm regards,
Marshall Stiver
