Seeing Your Life Through God’s Powerful Lens

The other day, I listened to Dr. Esther Longe speak about how sometimes God doesn’t answer us with a simple “yes” or “no.” Instead, He changes our perspective.

That really stayed with me.

If I’m being completely honest, I have found myself thinking about this more than once. Sometimes we become frustrated because we are waiting for a clear answer from God. We want Him to tell us exactly what is going to happen, when it will happen and, preferably, how everything will work out. We would quite happily take the full itinerary, thank you very much.

But perhaps, in some situations, God is not changing the situation first. Perhaps He is changing the way we see it.

And that got me thinking about something else. What if we don’t need to change the glasses, but simply change the lens?

The glasses are still the same. The person is still the same. The situation may even be the same. Yet, change the lens and suddenly what we are looking at can appear completely different.

It is almost like taking a photograph. The picture has not moved, but somehow, with a different focus, you notice things you completely missed before.

And, if I am being completely honest, isn’t that sometimes what we need? Not a completely different life, but a different way of seeing the life we already have?

We don’t need to have skewed vision when it comes to our lives.

Our early experiences shape so much of how we move through the world. They form the foundation of our worldview, how we relate to others, how we parent and even how we relate to ourselves.

Long before we consciously decide what we believe about ourselves, other people, relationships, success, failure, love, rejection and even God, we have already been collecting information.

Our childhoods teach us things.

Our families teach us things.

Our experiences teach us things.

Our disappointments teach us things.

Sometimes, unfortunately, our wounds teach us things too.

And all of these experiences quietly become part of the lens through which we look at life.

The way we see isn’t fixed or necessarily “right.”

It’s filtered.

It’s formed.

Our worldview is not something we were born with. It’s something that was built. Layer by layer. Belief by belief. Experience by experience. Influence by influence.

And because our vision has been formed over time, it is worth asking whether the lens through which we see our lives is still serving us well.

One thing I continue to struggle to understand, for the life of me, is how people can have completely different realities from each other.

Rationally, I understand it. Our experiences, exposure, bias and environments shape our perception. But emotionally, I still find it incredibly fascinating.

How can two people experience exactly the same event and walk away with two completely different stories?

How can one person say, “That was obvious,” while the other is thinking, “What on earth did you see?”

And, unbelievably, both can be absolutely convinced that they are right.

Now, come on. How does that happen?

Well, perhaps it happens because we don’t simply see the world as it is.

We see the world through the lens we have been given, built, shaped and sometimes even scratched along the way.

And perhaps this is where Dr. Esther Longe’s message becomes even more meaningful.

Sometimes God doesn’t answer us with a simple yes or no because the issue is not always the situation itself. Sometimes it is the perspective through which we are viewing the situation.

Maybe the glasses don’t need changing.

Maybe the lens does.

Don’t Let Your Vision Become Skewed

There is another side to this that I have been thinking about deeply.

We must be careful not to become so certain that our way of seeing things is the only way to see them.

Sometimes we vehemently refuse to see how others see.

We defend our perspective so strongly that we stop listening altogether. We have already reached the verdict, written the judgement and, if we are being honest, probably thrown away the possibility of an appeal.

We see what we see, and then we go looking for evidence to support what we have already decided.

Meanwhile, the other person is looking at the very same situation through an entirely different lens.

And isn’t that interesting?

We can be standing in exactly the same place, looking at exactly the same thing, yet somehow seeing completely different pictures.

One person sees rejection.

Another sees redirection.

One sees failure.

Another sees a lesson.

One sees an ending.

Another sees the beginning of something they could never have imagined.

We see only the bare minimum, while someone else may see possibilities, patterns, pain, beauty, or even stars that we cannot see.

And this is where humility becomes important.

If our worldview has been built layer by layer through our experiences, beliefs, upbringing, relationships, culture, disappointments and influences, then we have to acknowledge that someone else’s worldview has also been built in much the same way.

Their lens may be different from ours.

That does not automatically make theirs wrong.

It does not automatically make ours right.

It simply means we are looking through different lenses.

The danger comes when we mistake our perspective for the absolute truth.

We can become so attached to what we see that we refuse to consider what someone else might be seeing.

We can look at the same situation and conclude that the other person is unreasonable, difficult, insensitive or simply wrong, when perhaps they are responding to something we cannot see from where we are standing.

Maybe they see stars where we see darkness.

Maybe they see possibility where we see limitation.

Maybe they see pain where we see behaviour.

Maybe they see hope where we see impossibility.

And, for the life of me, I think that is one of the most fascinating things about being human.

We can be absolutely convinced that we are seeing clearly while, at the same time, our lens is quietly colouring everything we see.

That should humble us.

Because perhaps the question is not always, “Who is right?”

Perhaps the better question is:

“What am I not seeing?”

Now, that is a question worth sitting with.

Because it does something to us.

It slows us down.

It makes room for humility.

It allows us to listen without immediately preparing our defence.

It encourages us to become curious rather than certain.

And sometimes, what we discover when we stop defending our own view is that there was more to the story than we realised.

When God Changes Our Perspective

There are moments when we pray for God to change our circumstances, but He begins by changing us.

He may give us peace instead of an explanation.

He may give us wisdom instead of an immediate answer.

He may give us patience instead of a quick solution.

He may give us a new perspective that allows us to see the same situation differently.

And that can be frustrating because, if we are honest, we often want God to change the scenery, not our eyesight.

We want the difficult person removed.

We want the door opened.

We want the answer now.

We want the outcome we have already imagined.

Yet sometimes God seems to say, “Before I change what you are looking at, let Me change the way you are looking at it.”

And that is powerful.

Because the circumstances may still be there, but our vision has changed.

When our vision changes, our response changes.

What once looked like a setback may become an opportunity for growth.

What looked like a closed door may become protection.

What felt like a delay may become preparation.

Sometimes what we desperately want may not be what we truly need.

Sometimes the answer is not simply yes or no.

Sometimes God is inviting us to see differently.

Perhaps He is not asking us to change the glasses.

Perhaps He is asking us to allow Him to change the lens.

And, interestingly, that can be far more powerful than changing the circumstances.

Because if the circumstances change but our lens remains the same, we may simply carry the same fear, insecurity, assumptions and patterns into the next situation.

New scenery.

Same lens.

Same story.

But change the lens, and suddenly the same world can look different.

God Sees Beyond the Moment

We often judge our lives by what is happening right now.

God sees beyond the present moment.

A difficult season may not be the final chapter.

A delay may not be a denial.

A disappointment may not be the end of the story.

Romans 8:28 reminds us that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

That does not mean every circumstance is good.

It means God is powerful enough to work even through difficult circumstances.

That is the power of seeing through His lens.

Joseph experienced rejection, betrayal, slavery and imprisonment before eventually stepping into the purpose God had for his life.

Imagine trying to explain God’s plan to Joseph while he was sitting in prison.

“Joseph, don’t worry. This is all going somewhere.”

I suspect he might not have found that particularly comforting at the time.

Yet what looked like a detour was actually part of the journey.

What looked like loss was not the end of his story.

What looked like abandonment was not abandonment at all.

God was working beyond what Joseph could see.

And perhaps that is something we need to remember when we are tempted to judge our lives by one difficult chapter.

We don’t have God’s view of the entire story.

We have our moment.

God has the whole picture.

Trusting When You Cannot See

One of the greatest challenges of faith is trusting God when we cannot see what He is doing.

We want certainty.

We want clarity.

We want answers.

Preferably all three, and preferably yesterday.

But faith often asks us to trust before we understand.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 encourages us to trust in the Lord rather than depending entirely on our own understanding.

Sometimes God gives us enough light for the next step, not the whole journey.

And that is enough.

You may not know how everything will work out.

You may not understand why a particular door closed.

You may not see how your current situation connects to God’s promises.

But you can still choose to trust Him.

Perhaps the prayer is not always:

“God, change this situation.”

Perhaps sometimes it is:

“God, change the way I see this situation.”

Give me eyes to see what You are doing.

Give me wisdom to understand what You want me to learn.

Give me patience when the answer is not immediate.

Give me faith when I cannot see the outcome.

And most importantly, keep my vision from becoming skewed by fear, disappointment, pride or assumptions.

What Are You Not Seeing?

I think this is a question worth carrying with us.

What am I not seeing?

Not because our perspective is meaningless.

Not because we should abandon our convictions.

Not because every perspective is equally true.

But because humility reminds us that our vision is limited.

There may be something another person sees that we don’t.

There may be something God is showing us that we have been too hurt, too afraid, too disappointed or too certain to recognise.

Sometimes we are asking God for a different outcome when He is trying to give us a different perspective.

Sometimes we are asking for a door to open when He is asking us to notice the door we have been standing beside all along.

Sometimes we are asking for an explanation when God is developing our trust.

And sometimes the greatest miracle is not that the circumstances changed.

It is that we changed.

We began to see differently.

We began to listen differently.

We began to respond differently.

We began to understand that the world is bigger than our own experience.

Look Again

Perhaps today you need to look at your life again.

Not through the lens of fear.

Not through disappointment.

Not through comparison.

Not through past experiences.

Not through the opinions of others.

But through the lens of God’s love, purpose, grace, wisdom and faithfulness.

Instead of saying, “My life is falling apart,” perhaps we can say, “God is still working.”

Instead of saying, “I don’t understand,” we can say, “I don’t understand, but I trust the One who does.”

Instead of saying, “This is the end,” we can say, “God has not finished writing my story.”

And instead of insisting, “This is the only way to see it,” perhaps we can become humble enough to ask:

“Lord, show me what I cannot see.”

Because when we see our lives through God’s powerful lens, we begin to understand that not every answer has to be a yes or no.

Sometimes God answers by giving us a new perspective.

Sometimes He changes our circumstances.

Sometimes He changes us.

And sometimes He simply gives us eyes to see what was there all along.

Maybe the stars were always there.

Maybe the possibility was always there.

Maybe the hope was always there.

We just needed a different lens.

A Prayer

Lord, help me to see my life through Your powerful lens. When I am tempted to interpret my circumstances through fear, disappointment, pride or past experiences, give me clear vision. Help me not to become so certain of my own perspective that I refuse to see how others see. Give me humility to listen, wisdom to discern and courage to recognise what I may be missing.

When Your answer is not immediately yes or no, teach me to trust You. If my circumstances cannot change immediately, change the way I see them. Help me to see beyond what is obvious, beyond what I have experienced and beyond what I think I already know.

Lord, widen my vision. Let me see possibilities where I have only seen limitations. Let me see hope where I have seen darkness. Let me see stars where I have only seen the night. Above all, help me to see what You see. Amen.