In a vision of the night, God speaks--Job 33:15,16
I was asleep, but my heart/spirit was still sensitive to the voice of the Lord. I heard him speak to my spirit, knocking at my heart's door:
"I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My lover is knocking" (Song of Songs 5:2).
What he said was a further revelation which he had been opening up to me for some time: the matter of perspective and its crucial role in living one's life in accord with truth. Though not wanting to wake up fully in the middle of the night, I did force myself to do so and write down what I had just seen, so that I would not forget it and lose this treasure from the Lord. If he thought it was worth interrupting my sleep at 2:30 in the morning, it seemed prudent not to ignore the message. I now pass that message on here.
For years now, the Holy Spirit has made my heart's cry one of seeking a true perspective on reality at its deepest level. I have repeatedly asked the Lord to give me a right conception and perception of reality: to perceive God as he really is; to view the world and its people as they really are; to see myself as I really am; and to have a right and true perspective on how my own existence relates to all else that exists, especially God.
Such a profound prayer has not arisen from any natural deep insight that I have within myself. Such a desire is far too deep for an ordinary person such as myself to think of requesting of God. The Holy Spirit himself put that desire into my heart (Rom. 8:26, 27).
Over and over again, for years now, I have prayed that prayer, and it has been answered piecemeal in various ways. One time I will receive a glimpse into the true nature of the human heart, helping me to more accurately perceive why people do the things they do in this world. Another time I will receive revelation into the heart of God and his character and nature (Jer. 33:3, Prov. 1:23).
In this latest lesson, the Lord used two passages from Scripture to show me what he wanted me to see. One was from the Old Testament, one from the new. Both dealt with the single issue of perspective.
The OT reference was from Daniel, chapter four, the dream of an earthly king which foretold his downfall due to a wrong perspective (Dan. 4:28, 29). The wrong perspective he had was that all his glory--his kingdom and its many cities and accomplishments--had been achieved by his own power and skill, with no acknowledgment of God's blessings to him in this matter. Therefore, God removed him from his kingdom, gave him the mind of an animal, and for seven years, he lived in that base condition. At the end of that period, his sanity was restored, as was his kingdom. Yet now he saw everything differently. Now he had a true and right viewpoint and perspective: He freely acknowledged not his own greatness but God's. God was the true king, not he.
This tale has applications to all our lives. Left to ourselves, we think of ourselves as kings of our own kingdom: the kingdom of the soul. But Scripture says otherwise (1 Cor. 6:19, Rom. 7:14, 15). We are so easily caught up in our everyday world, even though it is temporary and shabby compared to the unseen world of eternity, that we ignore the things that matter most, things of that other, unseen kingdom of the glory of God.
The other passage from Scripture which the Lord used that night, the NT passage, is that of the wedding feast (Mt. 22:1-14, Lk. 14:15-24). It is interesting to me that both passages which he used, in the OT and NT, speak of a king. In both, also, a wrong perspective leads to dire consequences. In the OT passage, a king has a large kingdom which he treasured above God, while in the NT reference, more ordinary people treasure their own little, personal kingdoms: a spouse, a house, a job. It makes no difference. Whether large in earthly terms or small, all fades into insignificance when compared to issues of eternity and God and his kingdom. Indeed, in the Luke version of this parable from Jesus, the next section contains Jesus' sobering statement that if we do not forsake all these kingdoms for God's kingdom, we cannot be his disciples (Lk. 14:26, 27).
Wrong perspective inevitably leads one to bargain away treasures for trinkets. Adam and Eve did it by seeking more than God had decreed they should have, and thus they lost what they did have (Mt. 25:29, 30). Esau lost his inheritance in God's family for a pot of stew (Gen. 25:29-34). Judas saw only money in a purse, which he stole for his own use--and thus lost his soul forever (Jn. 17:12). In all of these cases, a wrong perspective on reality led to disaster and great harm to the souls involved.
Jesus gave clear warning and spoke a deep and great truth when he said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt. 6:21). All of the above examples illustrate this basic truth about the human heart.
But Jesus immediately goes on to an even deeper level of reality. In the next verses, he explains the cause of these wrong desires in the heart: It is a result of seeing reality wrongly. He likens the way a person views reality to the eye, and calls it "the lamp of the body". Then he shows the relationship between one's worldview or perspective and how one goes about living one's life in this world:
"If your eyes are good, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness" (Mt. 6:22, 23).
Such darkness could lead one to deliberately fly a plane into a tall building and kill thousands of innocent people--all in the name of God. It can cause you to set up a systematic program that seeks to wipe out an entire race of people in gas chambers. Or, if you are not in a position of power to do such things--if your kingdom is smaller--it can make you think that it is all right to kill millions of unborn babies every year. Wrong perspective can deceive you into thinking that God cannot see that "little sin" that you allow into your life because it gives you pleasure.
All of this, and more comes from a wrong perspective of reality. And all of this, though it may allow you to partake of some small pleasure now, will ultimately rob you of partaking in the pleasures of the great wedding banquet of the King at the end of this temporary world.
Psalm 140:6 says that at the end the evil rulers (kings) will finally see reality correctly, that God is God, not they, and that his ways are right and true. But it will be too late then, for they will be thrown down from the cliffs (the heights of glory which they held in this world) and die in darkness.
That passage then goes on to say, "But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign Lord" (v. 8).
This is our salvation, to look to the Lord to give us right and true perspective on reality. He does this whether we read his Word in the day, or whether he brings that same Word to us at night in our sleep. May we all give heed to that Word and obtain the perspective that is true.
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Author: wisdomsfriend
Location: Onalaska Wisconsin USA
Gender: Male
Age: 64
Blog Entries: 36 (archive)
Blog Comments: 15
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