“Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” Revelation 4:1

I’ve spent the past few weeks hiking… climbing mountains, enjoying magnificent views. How much more clearly we are able to see our surroundings when we’re standing on top of a mountain instead of hanging out in a valley. Metaphorically, God wants us to come up higher to where He is, so we can more fully see things the way He does.

Sometimes we feel discouraged or even let down by God. Many times, we can’t see the full picture of what God is doing in our lives because we aren’t able to see things from His perspective.

It’s easy to focus our attention downward at what’s wrong with our situations and circumstances. There’s nothing wrong with considering what’s going on around us, but if we’re not looking upward, we won’t have God’s perspective… seeing things the way He does.

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps 121:1,2)

Many of us are still living in the narrative of our past or trying to deal with our present struggles out of the perspective of our past storylines. God sees us in our painful situations, and He will not leave us alone. He hasn’t dropped us. God is for us. And if God is for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)?

After repeated losses, it’s easy to give up hope…to simply not want to continue hoping, only to be disappointed again. When that happens we need to intentionally choose to live each day with gratitude and joy. That puts us in a position to receive new things from the Lord…to walk in His plans of hope and a future (Jer 29:11)

Focusing on our loss keeps us so distracted that we can actually miss the blessings God is trying to release to us.

Rather than trying to build up our hope (which often doesn’t work), we need to turn our attention to building up our gratitude and joy in the Lord—and that will bolster our hope. In our joy God releases new hope—His hope, which is better than any empty pie-in-the-sky optimism we can drum up on our own.

Here’s an approach to praying in times of loss to help gain and reinforce God’s perspective:
God, I ask You to …
•       reveal which promises are for now and which are for later (timing).
•       show me what the enemy does not want me to see (discernment).
•       allow me to be seen as You see me, not as the enemy wants me to be seen (favor).
•       repay and release what was stolen and held back by the enemy (justice).
•       show me practical ways to respond to You (wisdom).

Keeping our focus on what is ahead and forget the things that lie behind. God gives us new grace and mercy every morning and all day long. (Lam 3:22)