eVotional: Psalm 84:5

Perception and Reality – Thru What Glass Are You Looking?

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.”

Psalm 84:5

Perception is reality. How someone perceives us makes a big difference in what they think of us. If the police see you blow through a stop sign, they assume it isn’t the first time you’ve done this even though that might not be true. If I happen to be looking at something on the internet when my boss walks by the only two times they walk by my desk all day, to them I am always on the internet.

Let us think along this line regarding where our strength comes from. If we are always looking at life through God’s Word, we will react much differently than we would if we tried to navigate life’s troubles on our own. The reason God tells us to avoid ungodly council, avoid the ways of sinners, and not to look at things through the mentality of a critic is because those perspectives will not encourage us to make the choices that exercise our faith and line us up with God’s heart (Psa 1:1).

When we suffer burn-out, anxiety, and frustration, it is evidence that our focus is off target. If God will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him (Isa 26:3), then it means we may not be looking at our current situation through his perspective. If our eyes are looking through the filter of God’s Word, we have a better time seeing what God sees, learning to love what God loves, and acting how God would act.

Blessed is the man, woman, and child who recognize that their strength is in the Lord! They indulge in God’s Word because they recognize the power that it has over decisions. Happy will we be when our perception is built upon Christ: the rock of our daily strength.