Life, Filled with Adversity or Opportunity?

The picture above is by famous artist M.C. Escher. His pictures are real mind-benders. By gazing at this picture, it does not take long to realize that one's perspective of what is up or down will change. For instance, imagining oneself in Escher's picture, going up a set of stairs, but suddenly one finds oneself going sideways and then down. Life can come at us in much the same way. We have a perspective that our lives are going in a certain direction, but then suddenly events occur in our lives and our perspective changes, sometimes drastically.

In the book of Ruth in the Bible, we see the power of perspective to prescribe whether or not we live a life of faith or frustration in response to the difficulties of life. At the onset of the book, two women are in a very similar situation. Their lives have been drastically changed and they feel quite vulnerable. One woman named, Naomi, had lost her husband and both her sons, and was living with her daughter in law, Ruth. Naomi characterized life as one of adversity, in which "God's hand had gone out against her."

Ruth, on the other hand, had lost her husband, her brother in law, her father in law, and was facing the prospect of a life as a widow, vulnerable and no where to go. However, Ruth did not characterize her life as one of adversity, but rather one of opportunity. Whereas, Naomi believed God's hand was against her, Ruth saw an opportunity to start believing in this God of Naomi.

What would your's and my perspective have been if we'd been in their situation? Naomi's perspective caused her to become bitter, but Ruth's perspective embraced an opportunity for life to get better. Naomi's perspective was causing her to lose faith in her God. However, Ruth's perspective was causing her to trust God.

In the Escher painting our perspective kept changing and this could cause us to feel frustrated or confused. In life our perspective will determine where we end up, either trusting God for things that are better, or not trusting in God and becoming bitter, frustrated and confused. But it all starts with our perspective on our current situation. When we respond to the difficulties of life with a perspective that is divorced from God's eventual goodness and faithfulness, we will wander aimlessly as though walking in an Escher painting. However, when we by faith, choose to trust in God's goodness and faithfulness, despite our challenges in life, we discover a straighter path and understand more fully what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life.

Often times our problems are not external, but rather internal. Our problems are internal because of how we choose to perceive our circumstances. How do you perceive your current struggles in life, as adversity or as an opportunity to trust God?

Beams Away!