4.2.18 Praise Prompt: Understanding God

PRAISE PROMPT ••• One of my favorite scenes from any movie is the “stand on the desk and look around” scene from “Dead Poets Society.”
I love Mr. Keating’s challenge to look at things from a different perspective.
When it comes to looking at God, we have tendency to look at Him through the filters of our own design.
It takes a great deal of faith to look at God from a higher point of view.
If you’ve ever had a conversation with someone who doesn’t believe in God, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
They look at Him from the ground view, with all kinds of why’s and how-could-He’s blocking the view of His absolute greatness and perfection.
It’s like standing behind a brick wall and claiming the ocean must not exist because you can’t see it.
Never mind that the presence of the ocean can be heard, these are the people who refuse to see beyond what their eyes show them.
A climb to the top of that wall would reveal the glorious expanse of miles and miles of sea.
But even if there wasn’t a ladder to get to the top, we’ve got our sense of smell to detect the presence of ocean air.
We’ve got our ears to hear the crashing of the waves.
Because even nature demonstrates God’s existence!
Romans 1:20 NLT says, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
As another writer so eloquently said, “the earth was God’s first missionary!”
When the unbeliever asks, “If God exists, why does He allow bad things to happen?,” it’s a hard question to answer.
We know from Isaiah 55:8-9 that God’s ways aren’t ours.
He allows things to happen that we don’t understand, but that doesn’t mean He’s uncaring or lacking in power.
If we go back to Mr. Keating’s advice and stand on the desk, we can get a bigger picture view of things.
Sometimes the “bad” things that God allows open up extraordinary doors of opportunity we wouldn’t have otherwise!
In John 13:7, “Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.’”
Our ability to perceive God’s presence is based on our willingness to open up our hearts to Him and trust Him even when we can’t see what He’s doing.
Today, let’s offer praise to our Creator who sees the entire blueprint He’s designed for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11).
We know that because of His perfection, He doesn’t think the way we do.
Let’s pray for the wisdom to understand His ways, no matter where we stand.