Psalm 105: Perspective Is Everything

Read Psalm 105:1-45

Perspective Is Everything

He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to
what others had toiled for— that they might keep
his precepts and observe his laws.
Praise the LORD.
(Psalm 105:43-45)

From this side of heaven, it seems as though the believer is either in the sweet spot of God’s grace or the hot seat of challenging circumstances. Life seems to bounce between the two.

Has that been true for you—figuratively speaking, you’re either a just step ahead of the poor house or you’ve got one foot in the Promised Land? Throughout my life, I have drifted from one to the other, sometimes on a daily basis, but mostly it has been seasonal. Of course, I prefer the sweet spot—who wouldn’t!

That’s the human perspective—we either get a burden to bear or a blessing to enjoy. This psalm speaks of both: Joseph under the oppressive yoke of the Egyptians (Psalm 105:17-18), or Joseph in the driver’s seat of Pharaoh’s court. (Psalm 105:20-21) The same was true for the nation of Israel: They suffered the indignity of slavery in Egypt for 400 years (Psalm 105:23) but later were delivered to the Promised land where they enjoyed the blessings for which others had labored. (Psalm 105:43-44)

But what we see as either burdens to bear or blessings to enjoy, God sees from the perspective of purpose. At times, God gives us a problem; at other times, God releases his provision—but at all times, God is fulfilling his purposes in us, for us, and through us. That is the better perspective—that’s a heavenly perspective.

What a better way to go through life—whether we are enduring a season of burdens or enjoying a season of blessings. When God allows us to endure a problem, his purpose is that through it, we would live with an attitude of gratitude and call attention to his glorious deeds. (Psalm 105:1) When he has brought us into the sweet spot of his favor, he does so that we might be energized and enabled to bring praise to his name through our obedience. (Psalm 105:45)

Perspective is everything. From an earthly point of view, we bounce between problems and promises! But from heaven’s perspective, God is faithfully fulfilling his purposes.

Now let’s see—earth or heaven? I’m thinking heaven is the better way to go!

“There is nothing—no circumstance, no trouble, no testing—that can ever
touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ
right through to me. If it has come that far, it has
come with a great purpose, which I may
not understand at the moment.”
~Alan Redpath