God’s Perspective @ Work

I started my day in usual fashion, bombarded by issues, wondering where the cash is going to come from, anticipating staff personality conflicts, and all the rest. And again I asked myself, how do I see this from God’s point of view. After all, my head is very aware that “the earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). I know that what I’m dealing with is part of God’s overall plan. I know that He has called me to this job to be a participant in His Kingdom. But right now, today, it is so easy to be overwhelmed by the issues, to be blind to His presence, and to let the stress and worry take over.

What can I do to be closer to God’s perspective? Because that’s what it is – an issue of perspective. There is a familiar old Indian story that my help. In various versions of the tale, in which a group of blind men touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one touches a different part, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then compare notes on what they felt, and learn they are in complete disagreement. In one version, the blind man who feels a leg says the elephant is like a pillar; the one who feels the tail says the elephant is like a rope; the one who feels the trunk says the elephant is like a tree branch; the one who feels the ear says the elephant is like a hand fan; the one who feels the belly says the elephant is like a wall; and the one who feels the tusk says the elephant is like a solid pipe (Taken from Wikipedia article “Blind Men and an Elephant”).

The way we view things at work can be like this too. We see just one piece of what is going on, but God sees the whole picture – the whole elephant. There’s only one way I know that get God’s perspective on anything – prayer (preferably prayer informed by Bible reading). So I’m trying to develop the habit of prayer throughout the day. It isn’t easy – I forget, get distracted, lose my way constantly. About all I consistently manage so far is to pray every time I go to the bathroom! Yes I know, but I really don’t think God cares! It’s a start anyway.