At the end of the spring semester celebration, the music students performed their pieces at a recital, and Reading & Buddy students presented a Reader's Theater rendition of Seven Blind Mice based on the book by Ed Young. In the book, seven blind mice encounter a strange Something. As each mouse encounters part of the Something, each thinks it's a different object, and they begin to argue. It's a column, says one mouse. Another thinks it's a snake. Or is it a rope? It's not until the seventh mouse runs up and down and across the whole Something that they discover and agree it is an elephant. The moral of the story: "Knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing the whole."
So it is in life. The dilemma, the injustice, the temptation facing me, can seem so overwhelming that it distorts my perception of reality. How many times before have I grimaced belatedly for blowing things out of proportion, for making a mountain out of a molehill?
The psalmist Asaph knew what that felt like. He had tried to live a godly life and suffered, while the wicked lived strong and in prosperity. How could that be, God? Such injustice! Had he lived a pure life in vain? The incongruity bothered him so much that he teetered on the brink of sin as he questioned God's goodness. "When I tried to understand all this," he says, "it troubled me deeply.....my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You." (Psalm 73)
Until he entered the sanctuary of God;
That's when he began to see the big picture. When Asaph recalled God's faithfulness and goodness, he could see that the current state of things was temporary. God has a just consequence for evildoers, as He does for the righteous. Asaph recognized that he was in the best, eternal position under God's loving watchcare. He could say confidently then, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
For me, Sunday worship can be a call to reality. I may go to church with my mind preoccupied with this or that, but as I sing of God's power and lovingkindness and goodness, those burdens are lifted. They haven't changed, but my perception has, because I can see reality through the lens of God's omnipotence, omniscience, sovereignty, goodness, justice, forgiveness, and kindness.
"Ascribe to the Lord, the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." (Psalm 29) God is a jealous God who will not give His glory to another. He wants our worship. I find that in the process of giving what rightly belongs to Him, I am healed and see a bigger picture.
So it is in life. The dilemma, the injustice, the temptation facing me, can seem so overwhelming that it distorts my perception of reality. How many times before have I grimaced belatedly for blowing things out of proportion, for making a mountain out of a molehill?
The psalmist Asaph knew what that felt like. He had tried to live a godly life and suffered, while the wicked lived strong and in prosperity. How could that be, God? Such injustice! Had he lived a pure life in vain? The incongruity bothered him so much that he teetered on the brink of sin as he questioned God's goodness. "When I tried to understand all this," he says, "it troubled me deeply.....my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You." (Psalm 73)
Until he entered the sanctuary of God;
That's when he began to see the big picture. When Asaph recalled God's faithfulness and goodness, he could see that the current state of things was temporary. God has a just consequence for evildoers, as He does for the righteous. Asaph recognized that he was in the best, eternal position under God's loving watchcare. He could say confidently then, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
For me, Sunday worship can be a call to reality. I may go to church with my mind preoccupied with this or that, but as I sing of God's power and lovingkindness and goodness, those burdens are lifted. They haven't changed, but my perception has, because I can see reality through the lens of God's omnipotence, omniscience, sovereignty, goodness, justice, forgiveness, and kindness.
"Ascribe to the Lord, the glory due His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." (Psalm 29) God is a jealous God who will not give His glory to another. He wants our worship. I find that in the process of giving what rightly belongs to Him, I am healed and see a bigger picture.