Have you ever thought how nice it would be to be so “taken care of” that you could cry if you didn’t have food put in your mouth the moment it crossed your mind?  Or if you could wet yourself and then cry until someone changed your diaper for you?  Of course I am talking about infants.  It’s funny how as life moves on we gain perspective and realize that crying about such things isn’t a terribly helpful response for a 6 year old or even a 4 year old.  Instead they would use words to express their needs.

Yet somehow we  forgetfully imagine that the current stage we are at is the one that finally grants us the full and clear perspective that we lacked until “now.”  Have you ever wondered about a struggle and considered that God has a perspective about our suffering that is rooted firmly in eternity? Such a perspective no doubt makes most of our “suffering” seem a bit small!   It’s not at all  that God doesn’t care!  Of course He cares very much! It is just that His response may not be the one that seems the most obvious from our very limited perspective.  Will we choose to trust God regardless, or do we hold this against God and grow bitter?

This doesn’t mean we have to enjoy the trials, but remembering that our perspective is entirely limited by time and context and that God’s isn’t, is quite important!  Is there something you are enduring currently which you can give to God and about which you can choose to trust Him?   Jesus…when facing the cross, actually “despised the shame” yet he carried through because of the “joy set before Him.”

Hebrews 12:3 “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”