Instead of working so hard to achieve a change in our circumstances, maybe what we need more is a change in our perspective.
Recently I went through a low time where I found myself struggling in several areas of my life. As pressures mounted, I did what I am prone to do. I began to focus on how to change my circumstances. My brain began to be filled with ideas, plans and schemes designed to get me to a more comfortable place. And, as usually happens when I try to manipulate my circumstances, I just got more frustrated and less content.
It seems to me that most of us respond to the issues we face in very similar ways – our focus becomes all about changing the circumstances that are troubling us. Even our prayer life can be all about asking God to ‘fix’ something to make our lives more pleasant. But while we think our efforts to change our circumstances will make our lives better, the truth is that we just end up exhausted and no more at peace than when we started. Instead of working so hard to achieve a change in our circumstances, maybe what we need more is a change in our perspective.
Recently my pastor defined wisdom, which God promises us if we ask for it (James 1:5), as a change from a human perspective to God’s perspective. To have God’s perspective on the difficult things in our lives would be to see those things through the lens of God’s design, purpose and way. God never promises that life will be easy, but His word says that He works everything to good for those who love Him. If we saw every ‘negative’ situation in our lives as a means for God to work ‘good’ in us, maybe we wouldn’t focus so much on manipulating our circumstances to ‘feel’ better. Maybe, instead, we would begin to see our issues, trials and struggles as opportunities for God to do something transformational in our lives. And maybe the prospect of God at work in our lives would change us at a level deeper than the surface issues that so often derail us, even when our circumstances never change.
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