Perceptions

“You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Psalm 73:24

My husband and I were driving in Canada. We were not taught the metric system in school so we do not easily translate liters to gallons and kilometers to miles per hour.

As we drove along a twisty mountain road, we saw periodic speed limit signs. When we came to one that said 100, I asked my husband if we were driving the speed limit, and he said yes. (It turns out he had a little “cheat-sheet” because our car’s speedometer had the translation to kilometers directly below the miles-per-hour numbers, which I could not see from the passenger seat.)

I thought to myself, “Wow. We are REALLY FLYING down this road. I LOVE going 100! Canada is very generous with their speed limits!” I smiled. Ah, the simple joys of traveling! I felt like I was getting away with something that would NEVER happen in the USA.

Until my husband looked at me. He had that “Are you kidding me?” look on his face.

“What?” I asked.

“100 kilometers per hour is about 62 miles per hour.” I was severely let down. We weren’t flying. Suddenly we were barely moving, scarcely going as fast as a cautious driver in the freeway slow lane might go.

I lacked the perception that knowledge of the metric system would have given me. When we lack the perception that the truth gives in any area of our lives, we come to erroneous conclusions. Let’s face it, we do not know as God knows. He, who is wise above all others, knows what things are really about.

Asaph, one of the three worship leaders appointed by King David to minister in the temple, lost his perception of truth. He had begun to look around him and lose heart when he saw the wicked prospering. “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:2-3). He was close to losing his faith, and poured out his disappointment with what God was allowing to happen around him. He felt his lifelong pursuit of God had not mattered in the outcome of his life.

But suddenly, the eyes of his understanding were opened. “When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end…. I was so foolish and ignorant…. I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory…. It is good for me to draw near to God…” (taken from Psalm 73:16-28).

We need to get our eyes back on God and off our circumstances, and place all our hope in Him.

Father, open the eyes of our understanding, that we may see as You see. We place our trust in You. Amen.