A change in perspective

My son and I bought a black lemon. No, we did not find a new type of citrus. We purchased a black, twenty-year-old car that quit while driving home. After being thoroughly scrutinized by a mechanic who produced a miles long list of issues, we finally towed the black lemon home. I was now ready to throw my hands up in despair, cry out foul, lessons learned and quickly dispose of the car at the closest auto salvage yard.

A few days later, my perspective changed. I went from looking at the car as a waste of money, a waste of time, and the next donation to the scrap yard to a project.

The car went from a burden to a venture that my son and I could work on together.

Having a change in perspective makes a tremendous difference in how you feel about a situation. A rearranged viewpoint can change a burden into a blessing. How you see and interpret what is happening makes a tremendous difference in how you feel about your circumstances.

The Lord gave the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk a change of perspective. Habakkuk was complaining and was embittered his prayers were not being answered. At least not the way he wanted them. It seems the more he prayed, the worse the situation became. At the peak of his frustration, the Lord speaks, saying, "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told" (Habakuk 1:5). In other words, "I'm doing something amazing. You are not going to believe it. Habakuk, you need to change your perspective.

Like Habakkuk, we become exasperated when what we want to happen in our lives doesn't, and what we don't want to happen in our lives does. Like Habakkuk, we pray and pray, complain to our friends, and pray some more. When the situation doesn't change, we start to doubt, like Habakkuk did, God is even listening.

Often though, the first answer to our prayer is not God delivering what we asked but changing our perspective on the answer we are seeking. Like Habakkuk, God may have an answer that we couldn't imagine. A way to transform the situation, but our current point of view blinds us to the solution. Sometimes God changes our perspective, enabling us to see a solution we could not have imagined if we tried.