Have you ever been in a situation where you were sure you saw a certain thing and found out later it wasn't what you thought you saw?
One morning not that long ago, I was standing at the bathroom mirror fixing my hair and getting ready for work. I had just taken my vitamins and had the water bottle I was drinking from sitting on the counter next to me. It wasn’t just any water bottle. It was a VOSS water bottle, one of the large ones. (No, I didn’t write in all caps for emphasis; that is its logo.) Those familiar with this brand know their bottles are made of a heavy, thick glass. As I was holding my hair dryer in my right hand, I reached down to grab something with my left hand and accidentally knocked the bottle over. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see it falling so I stuck my foot out to try and ease the blow it would take before it hit the floor. In that quick moment all I could think is this thing is going to shatter everywhere and possibly damage the tile in the process. As I anticipated the impact with my eyes squinted, to my surprise it never came. While I gradually opened my eyes and looked to the left, I realized that a clear, plastic bag had slowly drifted to the ground and in the sink sat the glass bottle, undamaged. To be honest, I stood there a little stunned. I knew I had knocked the bottle over, and was convinced that’s what I saw falling.
That knee-jerk reaction is how we are in life sometimes, isn’t it? We hit a bump and rather than turning to assess the whole situation, we look at it out of the corner of our eye and expect the worst. We predict damages that never come because what we “saw” wasn’t the real deal. We can tend to make mountains out of mole hills, as they say, and assume something will turn out a certain kind of way without having all the details. Our eyes and our minds have a way of playing tricks on us and the enemy loves for us to become distracted in this way. It’s easy to jump to conclusions that are logical, but just because something is logical, doesn’t make it true. I knocked over a glass bottle and saw something falling; logic told me the bottle was going to hit the ground and shatter. In this situation there was no harm, no foul. But what about those times we conclude something about someone based on something someone else may have said, or we predict the outcome of a situation without having all of the specifics, so we become worrisome or fearful. Logical conclusions become dangerous when they’re untrue.
One thing we do know is that the Word of God is true beyond any logic or reason. You may have recently lost your job. Logic says you won’t have enough to take care of your family. The truth says God will supply all of your needs. Maybe you grew up without a father. Logic says nothing will ever fill that void. The truth says God is a father to the fatherless. Possibly you’ve suffered a loss and are in the depths of grief. Logic says you will never get through this. The truth of God’s word says joy comes in the morning and that He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
We have all been guilty of drawing our own conclusions to situations. Whatever it is that you’re facing today, I encourage you to stop looking at it “out of the corner of your eye”, but rather turn and face it with the truth of God’s word, which transcends all logic. He sees the entire picture from beginning to end.
Scriptures:
“Don’t jump to conclusions – there may be a perfectly good explanation for what you just saw.” Proverbs 25:8 (MSG)
“As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV)
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8
Prayer
Lord, today I pray for your help in seeing the truth of a matter through Your word rather than jumping to logical conclusions that aren’t true. What I see may not always be what is real, but I know that I can trust You because Your word is always real and true.
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