A little boy was sitting on a street corner trying to sell his little pup (maybe I’ve told you this before).
A salesman passed the corner each day, and after a week he began to pity the boy who was striving to sell his puppy. The salesman knew the boy didn’t See It Big. He stopped and said, "Son, do you really want to sell this dog?"
The boy replied, "I certainly do."
"Well you’re never going to sell him until you learn to See It Big. What I mean is, take this dog home, clean him up, doll him up, raise your price, make people think they’re getting something big, and you’ll sell him."
That noon the salesman came by and there was the boy with a puppy that was groomed, perfumed, and beribboned alongside a big sign:
TREEMENNDOUS Puppy For Sale--$5,000.
The salesman gulped and realized he had forgotten to tell the boy about Keeping It Simple. That evening he stopped by to tell the boy the other half of the formula, only to discover that the boy was gone, the puppy was gone and the sign lay there with "SOLD" written across it in big letters.
The salesman couldn’t believe it. This kid couldn’t have sold the dog for $5,000. His curiosity got the best of him and he rang the boy’s doorbell. The boy came to the door and the salesman blurted, "Son you didn’t really sell that dog for $5,000 now, did you?"
The boy replied, "Yes, sir, I did and I want to thank you for all your help."
The salesman said, "How in the world did you do it?"
The boy replied, "Oh, it was easy. I just took two $2,500 cats in exchange!"
I’m convinced that we are the creators of many of our own problems in this life. You see, the problem comes when we do not focus on the right things. That boy was looking to sell his puppy, but he was approaching it from the wrong perspective. As soon as he made the dog more attractive, that helped him “sell” the puppy.
Think of it this way. If you go shopping for a car, and you see an old, beat-up Yugo with 300,000 miles on it, would you take that car? Of course not! We tend to look at things that way—what we can see, feel, touch, smell, taste. Those are what we give the most importance in our decision making.
So why does it surprise us when our vision constantly trips us up? We tend to take a look around and focus on the wrong things, and as we do so, that tends to bring us down. We start to develop our own little pity party—why aren’t things going my why? Why does so and so get everything they want? Why do bad, sinful people get to do so much, and here I am stuck with nothing? Why do I never get the breaks in life? Why is it that bad things always come into my life?
The problem is that we often look at things with earthly eyes, rather than heavenly eyes. We tend to look at things through our own glasses, than with glasses equipped with faith.
2 Corinthians 5:7
We live by faith, not by sight.
The writer of Hebrews speaks of how God responds to those who walk by faith, and not by sight—Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.
So what do we do when we start to look our focus, when we start to gain the world’s perspective? Let’s look at Psalm 73 and see for ourselves how we should respond.
Asaph wrote this Psalm—he was a Levite in charge of one of the temple choirs. And he begins with a statement of fact--Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
And you know what—we would agree with that statement, most of the time. However, there are times like what we see in verses 2 and 3, where it says:
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
You see, Asaph started to take a look around and see what others were doing, how evil men were prospering. And he starts to focus on three things—three earthly things—three temporal things—that start to bring him down.
He focuses on their prosperity, and their pride.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong. [1]
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills. (PROSPERITY)
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity [2] ;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance. [3]
11 They say, "How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?" (PRIDE)
Verse 12 is the summation—12 This is what the wicked are like-
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
I’m not sure what you think about the situation in Iraq, but I hate what they say about Americans. They say that we are evil, that we are bent on ruling the world, that we have no concern for the people. Saddam Huesein is an evil man, and he is a fine example of someone just like this.
But in reality, we can think of people that we come into contact with on a regular basis who have it good. Making lots of money, not many cares or concerns in this life, always doing well, no problems at all. And we look at them, and see their success, and then we look at ourselves, and we start our own little pity party.
Woe is me. I’m doing all of this stuff for God, and I’m not as well off as some of these people. We have the same response as Asaph in verses 13 and 14
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
How do we fix this thinking? Is it wrong in the first place? If so, what do we do to correct it?
15 If I had said, "I will speak thus,"
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
You see, the more he tried to rationalize this, the more painful it became.
Do evil men deserve all the great things they get in life? Don’t we, as God’s children, deserve those things? Should we have everything we need—good health, lot’s of money, no problems—so we can do what God wants us to?
You see, the answer to us seems to be yes, but that’s because we are looking at it from the wrong perspective. This should be our response, when we start to get down in situations like this—16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
We need to see things as God sees them. Well, how do we do that—3 things.
When we enter the sanctuary of God—that’s when we can see things clearly. That’s when all of our short-sightedness disappears, and the things that really matter come into focus. The more we spend time in worshipping our God, the more we draw near to God, the better we will be able to see things as He sees them.
The first thing we need to do is to worship God—draw near to Him.
I spent time talking with a young boy this week—ten years old. He does not have the luxury of experiencing life as I have had. So, as he goes to school, he sees no purpose, he has no desire to do any work. And nothing that I, or his father would say, would get him to understand that. Sadly, he will only understand the purpose of school once he has already experienced it in his life—that is the way we are with God. The closer we get to him, the more we will see things as he does.
As Asaph drew near to God, he saw the wicked for what would eventually become of them.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 As a dream when one awakes,
so when you arise, O Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
When we see the things of this world and start to feel bad about ourselves, we should draw near to God—come to His sanctuary. Worship him. Come to church and fellowship with other believers. This will help us with our perspective.
But there’s more to it than that—we should also see our self-pity thoughts as sin.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless (LITERALLY STUPID) and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
Would you think these things of someone who is doing what God wants him to do or think? Someone put it this way—
21When I was beleaguered and bitter,
totally consumed by envy,
22I was totally ignorant, a dumb ox
in your very presence.
My seventy-year-old cousin Judi had spent her life in a very small town in Tennessee. She was a lover of country and saved up for years, so she could attend a performance of the Grand Old Opry.
When she arrived in Nashville for the first time, she checked into her hotel, and the bellhop took her bags. She followed the man, and as the door closed, she looked around and shook her fist at him, exclaiming, "Young man-I may be old, straight from the hills, but that don’t mean I’m stupid! I paid good, and this room won’t do at all! It’s too small, no ventilation, no TV-there’s not even a bed!"
Said the bellman: "But, Ma’am, this is the elevator."
And that is exactly what we are like when we look at things that way—it is stupid and sinful.
Finally, we need to see our security in God.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
We tend to look at our lives, our hardships as evidence that things are going wrong. But sometimes, when things go wrong, it’s because we are doing things right. Consider Job. He was living rightly when everything went wrong—it was his proper perspective that allowed him to not sin against God. The writer of Hebrews would say that the Lord brings hardships into the lives of those He loves, because he is training us like sons and daughters.
Here, Asaph realizes that there is nothing more on this earth that he desires other than God. God is the one who sustains him and will keep him.
Here, Asaph comes full circle—when the things happening in his world started to get him down, he needed to see things from God’s perspective. He needed to draw near in worship. He needed to recognize his sin. And he needed to see himself in God.
Asaph’s final conclusion?
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
We need to do the same—we need to walk by faith, not by sight. And when the things of this world start to get us down, we need to remember to see things as God sees them. We need to worship Him—draw near to Him. We need to recognize our sin. And we need to see our security in God.
Eight-year-old Frank had looked forward for weeks to this particular Saturday because his father had promised to take him fishing if the weather was suitable. There hadn’t been any rain for weeks and as Saturday approached, Frank was confident of the fishing trip. But, wouldn’t you know it, when Saturday morning dawned, it was raining heavily and it appeared that it would continue all day.
Frank wandered around the house, peering out the windows and grumbling more than a little. "Seems like the Lord would know that it would have been better to have the rain yesterday than today," he complained to his father who was sitting by the fireplace, enjoying a good book. His father tried to explain to Frank how badly the rain was needed, how it would make the flowers grow and bring much needed moisture to the farmers’ crops. But Frank was adamant. "It just isn’t right," he said over and over.
Then, about three o’clock, the rain stopped. Still time for some fishing, and quickly the gear was loaded and they were off to the lake. Whether it was the rain or some other reason, the fish were biting hungrily and father and son returned with a full string of fine, big fish.
At supper, when some of the fish were ready, Frank’s mom asked him to say grace. Frank did--and concluded his prayer by saying, "And, Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today it was because I couldn’t see far enough ahead."
May God help us as we struggle to see far enough ahead.
