Seeing beyond our current circumstances is sometimes a gift, sometimes not, and it is something we can learn. I have lived through a lot of exceptionally difficult circumstances in my 62 years. There were seasons of election riots in Senegal in West Africa. Then, after we moved to Mali, there was a coup d’État in 1991.
Both were violent, there were real bullets flying outside our home during the coup d’État. I remember taking our two young children into the hallway where I calculated the most ricochets would have to occur to get there. My thought was that this decreased our possibility of being hit by a stray bullet.
It could have been easy to become locked in fear. It took some wrestling to break out of fear, but from this and other difficult times, I have learned ways to keep fear from winning. Spending time in the Bible daily, going to church and serving the King of Kings in Africa all tempted me to pride, thinking I should be able to hold it together. Just because we say yes to God, it does not mean we will be overflowing with the Spirit everyday. Any true follower of Jesus eventually finds dark nights of the soul and dry seasons. Seeing beyond our circumstances, to what God is doing, is a skill we all can develop.
My personal “go to” to fight my way back into courage, vision, and an overflow of the fruit of the Spirit is worship. Jesus told us to worship our Creator in Spirit and in truth. “But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
We worship because that is where we find the presence of God. “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Psalm 22:3 We have been grafted in. All believers can find the presence of our Creator when we praise.
Why is worship so helpful? Worship reorients us. It moves us closer to our God and lifts us up out of the “pit.” When we choose to worship in the midst of our pain, dryness, confusion, or anything else that is holding us captive, these things begin to loosen their grip. It breaks through the plans of the enemy to destabilize us. God invites us to freedom and into a closer relationship with Him.
“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:6-8a.
Without the enemy around, the presence of the Living God starts to lift the fog we were in. Our vision clears and we begin seeing beyond our circumstances. That is how transformation happens, how we become more like Christ.
From that place, aware of His presence, we can sing out with King David when he wrote the following song. Notice how David is honest about how he sees things at the beginning. He is declaring truth over his fearful circumstances.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.
Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me, yet I will be confident.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” Psalm 27:1-4
We are all different, so do not be restricted to what you may think worship is. Where and when do you relax and feel the most alive? Look for, or create, space to freely worship the One who knows and loves you perfectly.
Soak in the presence of our Living God. Let Him touch your exhausted and broken places. Come back daily to worship. Our hearts do not often thaw in a moment, but it does happen. Keep coming back and you will begin seeing beyond what you can see … now.
