POV

Psalm 14

John Piper writes, “ Standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplating your own greatness is pathological. At such moments we are made for a magnificent joy that comes from outside ourselves…” (https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-the-grand-canyon-teaches-us-about-ourselves/).

What does God see when He views the world and what we have done to it? The 14^th Psalm offers an answer. From God’s (POV) point of view He sees a world of human beings consumed with their own pleasures and preferences (see also Romans 1:18-following). The people of God, those who seek to understand the mind and heart of God recognize themselves in this dark view of humanity. We also see that the presence of God is the only place where we can actually thrive.

When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden they were cast out of the place God had created specifically for them. From that moment forward, God’s people have made choices that cause God to ask, Will evildoers never understand (Psalm 14:4)?

The prayer of the psalmist, seeking deliverance, comes from a POV that compares with how we respond to the magnificent sight of the galaxies spinning above us in the night sky, the sheer beauty of creation. God’s POV, described darkly by this Psalmist is through grace-tinted lenses. He sees us, in all our selfishness not as hopeless but as those for whom He has provided redemption.

We are tempted to view the world through the lenses of despair and hopelessness. Let us see that the future is one in which God will recreate the heavens and the earth. Let us firmly hope in the promise of our redemption. Let our point of view be informed not by the immediate challenges of our circumstances. Let our point of view align with the POV of God. Jesus once reminded His followers, “…stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near!”” (Luke 21:28, HCSB).