And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. [Numbers 11:4b-5 (NLT)]
It’s a matter of perspective. When in Egypt, the Israelites hated being slaves to their cruel masters yet, every time they faced danger or difficulty, they longed to return there. This past March, my Florida friends wore gloves, jackets, and hats and complained of the cold when the temperature fell to 60 degrees. That same month, we were in the mountains of Colorado. When it got to 60 degrees there, off came the hats, gloves and jackets and people ate outside! Yesterday, my mother-in-law commented on the unseasonable heat in Illinois—it was 80 degrees! On the other hand, when it only got to 80 here in Florida, the weatherman called it “unseasonably cool.” It’s a matter of perspective.
“I’m starving!” we say when it’s been several hours since last eating, yet one in nine people suffer from chronic undernourishment. Truly starving, they may not even remember when last they ate anything. We complain about waiting thirty minutes in the physician’s waiting room, yet more than 1 billion people around the world have no access to health care. They’d gladly sit there for days if it meant getting medical attention. Weighing less than 93-pounds and standing less than 58-inches, my healthy and active 12-year old grand is called “small” for his age. In Africa or Asia, where nearly 51 million children are stunted in growth, he’d be the big kid in his class. Our well will be chlorinated this month and we’re annoyed about not having any water for several hours. A day’s inconvenience every few years sounds wonderful to those 663 million people have no access at all to safe drinking water. We women complain about the long lines in public restrooms yet one in three people lack access to any toilet, let alone the ten stalls at the theater! It’s just a matter of perspective.
A website called the Global Rich List puts one’s financial wealth in perspective. For example, here in the US, if you earned the median income of $51,939, you are in the top .28% of global wealth (note that decimal point)! While you’re not likely to see your name in Forbes magazine, that makes you the 16,839,173rd richest person on earth! Indeed, it is all a matter of perspective and, sometimes, we lose ours completely!
Father, forgive us when we look at life merely from our viewpoint—when we only notice or care about what directly touches our lives. Give us a global perspective so that we see the world from your viewpoint, not ours. Help us remember that the Good News is more than just your good word; it is also our good works! We have a world in need of both your message and our compassion. You have a world-sized role of each one of us—show us what you want us to do and how you want us to do it.
When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. [Mother Teresa]
It was such a wonderful and joy-filled day that I can’t believe we almost didn’t attend. We’d been invited to a 60th anniversary celebration and 60th anniversaries don’t happen that often. Nevertheless, we’d planned on declining because the date and place were inconvenient, getting there was expensive, and working out the logistics was problematic. A little thought and prayer, however, helped us realize that while inconvenient, it was not impossible; while expensive, it was not prohibitive; while difficult, with some adjustment on our part, it was doable. Moreover, our absence would disappoint people we love. One final thing was holding us back—we had nothing to wear! OK, you men have heard that one before but, in this case, it was true. We were in our Colorado mountain town where jeans and boots are the all-purpose outfit. Dressing up simply means clean jeans and boots and, no matter how clean the jeans or boots, that didn’t seem appropriate. We had plenty of clothes in other closets that would have been perfect for the event but they were more than a thousand miles away. The Holy Spirit, however, did His job and reminded me: “It’s not about you!” What we wore was of no importance to this milestone event. Few would even notice and no one would remember; it was our presence, not our appearance, that mattered. Another look into the closet found attire that, while not fashionable, was acceptable.
I don’t know about you, but I’m about ready to unplug the televisions until after the elections in November. It doesn’t matter which party or which candidate, the conduct and rhetoric has become nearly unbearable. Today’s Bible reading took me to Matthew 5 and the Beatitudes—those declarations of blessedness given by Jesus at the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount. I couldn’t help but contrast His words with the behavior of our politicians, their supporters and the news media. I then remembered A.W. Tozer’s observation that, if we were to take the Beatitudes and turn them inside out, we’d have the “very qualities which distinguish human life and conduct.”
Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God—soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God. [Psalm 42:5 (MSG)]
Devotions of the Heart 