Present problems provide a perception that lacks perspective.
As I browsed photos I’d posted on social media over the past two
years I noticed something. Not only was
life no longer plagued by the problems of then, now I have new problems to deal
with. Even though I could track some
problems of past, including the fatal diagnosis and imminent stillbirth of our son,
Nathanael, today’s problems outweighed everything of past, because, and this is
the important point, I have God’s faithfulness to reflect on for those
experiences of past where He upheld me in those difficulties.
Life is okay no matter how bad things are, presently, for these
four reasons:
1.
God was faithful in the past, so He
can be trusted to be faithful in the future.
(The only caveat on this is God’s faithfulness requires our trusting obedience, yet even when we fall short, God
is able to show Himself faithful.)
2.
The present is soon the past. It can no longer cause us the immediacy of
pain (though pain may still be memorialised — for which therapy and healing are
designed).
3.
We have what it takes to choose to
be happy and content, no matter the circumstances that swarm about us.
4.
Our suffering is still limited to
our context; we’re not required to suffer any more than we are presently, which
we, by God’s grace, have the capacity to endure.
***
No matter how bad things are, everything will be okay, because,
God is faithful, the present will soon be past, we can choose to be content,
and our suffering has limits that we’re able to endure.
Present problems present the prospect to conform unhealthy perceptions
to a healthier perspective.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
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