Prophecy - seeing from God's perspective

Today I was thinking about prophecy, wondering how to define its function in the Church. Why does God say what He says, and what is the purpose of His words? Then the Holy Spirit brought this thought; “I want you to see what I speak about from my point, instead of from yours.” And so unraveled a lesson on seeing things from God’s perspective.

The Lord often talks to us about His nature as a Father and how this relationship to us is played out in our lives. As children with our natural parents, we do not know why they speak the things they do. The most important thing that is formed in us is a trust, or a bond with our parents. If our parents teach us to obey them, we do . . . but not from a place of knowing what their motives are or of what good will come out of our obedience. An older child may want to emulate one of his parents, but it is a copying of behavior, and does not come from an understanding of his parent’s heart.

When we become teen agers we begin to separate from our childlike attachment to our parents. There is a sense that we have separate identities, unique by design. The purposes for which we do things may come in part from a parent, and in part from our own desires. This sense of forming a separate identity often causes teens to become offended at their parent’s words, as if they intrude upon the holy ground of the teenager’s wishes. At times he may give lip service to his parents, or honor them on the surface, but understanding of why his parents say what they say comes after maturity moves him beyond the stage of feeling the need to be separate from his parents.

As adults we are no longer insulated by our parents from the consequences of the decisions we make. Some of our parent’s words, such as past advice, begin to make sense to us. Understanding brings value to the content of those past conversations. We find ourselves doing some things our parent’s way, and at times find ourselves thinking like our parents think. You might say that, though different in reality, we are in the image of our earthly father or mother.
We see our heavenly Father’s words in much the same way as we see our earthly father’s words. At first we receive love from Him, and trust is built. We see God’s words from the perspective of our need, providing security as we enter a new world of faith. As we grow in Him, we want to emulate Him, but still do not know His heart. As we enter the teenage years of our faith God allows us to spread the wings of our faith and gives us more responsibilities. We experience a sense of separateness, and pride can rear up in our hearts causing us to feel offended at God’s instructions, whether written or spoken. We see our accomplishments and growing skills, and think of ourselves as capable on our own.

As time progresses we come upon circumstances that make us waver, and our steps don’t seem so sure. God’s words have more value as we begin to understand why He spoke the things He said. As we think like Him and do like He says, we find that we are more and more in His image. We see the purpose for His words, and this is seeing them how He sees them.

Is it important to see why God speaks? Jesus said that He lived “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” (Mt 4:4b). Though we go from no understanding, through various stages of handling God’s word, He always intended that we would not only understand what He says to us, but that we would become like Him. Our relationship with God should progress to the point where we begin to think like Him, at least a little. Paul writes about having the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16b). He calls it being a “spiritual man” (vs 15). This is the inner man who sees why God is saying what He says from His perspective. If we will move beyond being the child who needs security, and the teen ager who needs to assert his independence, then we will begin to recall God’s words with an understanding that comes with spiritual maturity. And then, we will see why God speaks the things He says to us. Open the eyes of our heart, dear Lord, that we might understand the inheritance we have yet to come into. Amen.