We need to start looking at the hope factors instead of the hurt & fear factors! All you need today is hope in God for help with what may be stressing you! There are some people who need to shift their vision and focus from ‘buzzard vision’ to ‘hummingbird vision’. God has a word for someone today.
That is the danger of ‘buzzard vision’, it does not just look for something dead, it Always looks for something dead. Neither its vision nor focus ever changes. That cannot be you! It is one thing to deal with hurt, pain, and discouragement, but it is another thing to let that be all you see! And no one can better show us how to shift our vision and focus from ‘buzzard vision’ (only looking for ugly death) to ‘hummingbird vision’ (only looking for beautiful life)!
What is the definition of Lamentation: the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; weeping.
Lamentations 3:19-27, “I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there is one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love could not have run out, His merciful love could not have dried up. They are created new every morning. How great Your faithfulness! I am sticking with God (I say it over and over). He is all I have got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It is a good thing to quietly hope, quietly HOPE FOR
I consider where I live to be a beautiful spot in the country! Daily I see things here that I would never see in the big City. The bird life here is not limited to only sparrows, the wren, the whippoorwill, and there are a few rowdy crows, robins, cardinals, orioles, and blue jays. I can see all those beautiful birds daily, including one of the classiest birds around – the hummingbird. Now, I am sure at one time or another, you have seen them probably doing their amazing hovering thing and flying from one flower to the next. But what I love most about them is their ability to always be attracted to the most beautiful things in the yard. My husband loves watching the hummingbird and the orioles above all the others, for that one reason too, it is always attracted to that which is beautifully scented. Now, as much as he loves to watch the classiest of birds (the hummingbird), he also, unfortunately, gets to see one of the un-classiest birds around too – the buzzard. I mean, what an amazing contrast. You have got the hummingbird (attracted to that which has the fragrance of life) and the buzzard (attracted to that which has the fragrance of death), flying over the same ground! The hummingbird looks for the beauty in life; the buzzard only looks for the ugliness of death! We need to shift our vision and focus from ‘buzzard vision’ (only looking for ugly death) to ‘hummingbird vision’ (only looking for beautiful life)!
Thinking of these two birds made me also think of the book of Lamentations, written by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, who wrote from a broken heart. You see, his country is devastated, and likewise, his personal life is devastated as well, and so he talks about his feelings in chapter 3, verses 19-20. He says, “I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness, and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.” (NIV). We are talking about a depressed prophet here! And he is thinking about all the negatives and the pain and the failures. Listen to him in the following translations:
“Remember [O Lord] my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood, and the gall (bitterness). My soul continually remembers them and is bowed down within me.” (AMP).
Jeremiah is in deep pain! In this moment he has ‘buzzard vision’! He is looking at the ugly, looking at what is dying, or looking at what is dead. He sees affliction, wandering, homelessness, bitterness, depression, troubles, loneliness, misery, discouragement, grief, and loss. But before we judge him too harshly, can’t we all be honest and admit we have felt some of those things too? And some of us felt many of those emotions for a long time, and even at the same time, for a long time. We have all had those moments when we could not walk by faith, because we were stumbling in fear. When the loved one died, when the marriage is looking at divorce, when the children are struggling with sin and peer pressure, when we were afraid; we would lose the house or the car, afraid that we might have to pull the aspiring student out of college because we could not pay the tuition. Or the moment when the doctor gave the diagnosis. When our strong parents, have become so weak and frail with age and ailments that they are now weaker than we were as babies. When business fails, the church declines, the job lays off. The long-time friendship/relationship ended in the blink of an eye. We have all had something, (whether it is listed above or not), that dampened our spirit and deflated our faith. So, let us not judge Jeremiah too harshly. After all, when you have sat where someone else is sitting, shouldn’t it bring out compassion, empathy, concern, patience and understanding?
So, Jeremiah the prophet is depressed and in pain. And before we move on from here, can I say this…Leaders Are Not Exempt from These Same Emotions! Jeremiah, THE PROPHET, the mouthpiece of God, proclaiming God’s word and directions to the masses, still battled pain and depression, loss, and discouragement. Therefore, never let anyone tell you to just ‘get over it’ (no matter what your ‘it’ may be.) Believe it or not but Apostles deal with ailments; Bishops battle discouragement; Pastors press through pain; Elders must endure suffering; Deacons go through bouts of depression; Ministers have countless miserable moments. In other words, we ALL, even LEADERS, must deal with LIFE, and all that it brings. Which means you should never feel guilt, shame or embarrassment when hurting. Do not masquerade, do not hide, do not pretend, do not cover up. And despite what most will tell you, do not make the foolish mistake of ’faking it till you make it’. Please hear me, nowhere in all of Scripture does God tell any of His children to pretend to be okay! What He does say is this:
You are admonished to be honest about how you are feeling, what you are feeling, and then to take it all to God. Aren’t you glad you do not have to play a role and perform for God? He loves you, as is, and that is a wonderful feeling! So, leader, and laity, alike…do not let anything or anyone shame you because of what you are dealing with right now. Be honest about where your emotions are visiting right now because that is all they are doing is Visiting! They will not, cannot, stay and Live here!
That is the danger of ‘buzzard vision’, it does not just look for something dead, it Always looks for something dead. Neither its vision nor focus ever changes. That cannot be you! It is one thing to deal with hurt, pain, and discouragement, but it is another thing to let that be all you see! And no one can better show us how to shift our vision and focus from ‘buzzard vision’ (only looking for ugly death) to ‘hummingbird vision’ (only looking for beautiful life)!
Read where Jeremiah’s vision shifts, it is found in verse 21. He says this: “YET this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” (NIV) Let us look at this in more detail:
“But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope” (MSG).
You see, after all of that “affliction, wandering, homelessness, bitterness, depression, troubles, loneliness, misery, discouragement, pain, grief and loss”, Jeremiah says there’s ONE thing he remembers, and it is that ONE thing that gives him hope! I must say that ONE thing must be something awesome and powerful, to only be ONE thing, and yet when he remembers it, all the rest is irrelevant! I do not know about you, but I want to find out what that ONE thing is!
Jeremiah goes from downcast to hope; from slumped shoulders to his chin held high! Reminds me of the Scripture, “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory [and my honor], and the ONE who lifts my head.” (Psalm 3:3 AMP).
But what made the difference for Jeremiah? What lifted his downcast soul to an uplifted position? Let us read and find out: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for Him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him.’” (NIV) The Message Bible says it like this: “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out; His merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They are created new every morning. How great Your faithfulness! I am sticking with God (I say it over and over). He is all I have got left. God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks. It is a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It’s a good thing when you’re young to stick it out through the hard times.” (MSG)
What a change here! Jeremiah starts looking at the HOPE factors instead of the HURT factors! Can you believe it? As much pain as he was in, all it took was ONE thing, HOPE in God for HELP, to shift his entire perspective! And that is all you need today as well! HOPE in God for HELP with what’s HURTING You!
NOW, before you get to running and praising…here is a tough question to ask Jeremiah: Has the situation changed? And his answer? NO. But his focus is about to because he talks first about the margin of difference when times are tough. He says, “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed.” He suddenly decides to focus on the Lord’s great love. When you realize just how much the Lord loves you, it deepens your hope in Him. Because when you think about it, when it comes to the people we love, what do we do? We guard them, treasure, and cherish them, protect them, provide for them, help them, encourage, and strengthen them. And likewise, God loves us so much that he does not leave us in our helplessness, He steps in with a reminder of His love that brings back to our remembrance…HOPE! A hope that reminds you that you will not always feel this way, you will not always be in this place. A hope that reminds you that change is still possible. A hope that reminds you that no matter how long you have been driving down this dreary, miserable road, there is yet a TURN coming! “You have TURNED my mourning into dancing for me; You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy” (Psalm 30:11 AMP) Your Turn is Coming! You have Endured, now get ready to Enjoy! “Weeping may ENDURE for a night, but a shout of JOY comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5 AMP) In a nutshell: GOOD MORNING SAINTS!
And not only does Jeremiah now focus on Hope and God’s Great Love, but then he talks about the Lord’s Compassions that are new every morning. Those compassions, I think, are like specific, customized actions of love from God that are in each 24-hour period. And you will see them if you will look for “God sightings” every day. They are God’s little interventions and sometimes big interventions. And Jeremiah has decided to look at those instead. And because they are new every morning, God never misses a day of making sure you have Hope, which is your reminder of His Great Love and Great Compassion! There is always some to see, but you must look for them!
God always supplies us with mercies for what this day will need. The Bible says it like this: “Give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread.” (Matthew 6:11) The New Living Version says it like this: “Give us the bread we need TODAY.” (NLV). How wonderful to know that God looks after us DAILY! He provides and protects us DAILY! He hears us DAILY! He grants us His Great Mercy, Great Compassion, Great Love DAILY! No matter what a day may bring, you are never in that day without God! Which is why you need not worry, fret, fear, or be discouraged. God is with you every-day! Do not worry about yesterday or even today or even tomorrow, God has them all covered on your behalf!
Here’s Proof: “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds. “Has anyone fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them. “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he will attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I am trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who do not know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. “Give your entire attention to what God is doing RIGHT NOW, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:25-34 MSG)
Yet another reminder of the Lord’s Great Love, Great Hope, Great Provision, Great Compassion and Great Faithfulness Towards YOU!
Maybe you have been dwelling on the pain, you have been kind of falling into the identity of being a life-long victim. Maybe the monster of self-pity is consuming you. You have been focusing on your failures and building this wave of self-doubt and paralysis of faith. Well, if that is you, know this: It is only Satan who focuses on the past, because it cannot be changed. A portion of John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” Satan focuses on the past (and tries to get you to do the same), that which is done and over with. Those issues that are dead and not to be revived. He has ‘buzzard vision’, all he looks for is the bad and the unchangeable. He focuses on dead things, but You Do not Have to! Why? Because the rest of that Scripture reads, “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Satan and his ‘buzzard vision’ only focus on the dead, but God in His ‘hummingbird vision’ only focuses on life! God points to the future that has yet to be written, and so should you. After all, aren’t you tired of just seeing the carnage, the ugly, the hurting, the negative? Why don’t you choose to focus on what you can thank God for each morning? Look for His love. Review His interventions and His blessings and you will feel wind start to rise under your wings instead of weights growing on them pulling you down! It is a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, second-by-second deliberate choice! And Only You decide what you want to focus on as you fly over today’s ground!
Do not be a buzzard! Go for hummingbird vision! Look for beauty. After all, when you can wake up in the morning knowing that Last Night was not your LAST Night, why would you want to dwell on anything negative? You made it over into a new day, leave the old behind!
“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, BE PRESENT. I am about to do something brand-new. It is bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I am making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands. Wild animals will say ‘THANK YOU!’ —the coyotes and the BUZZARDS—Because I provided water in the desert, rivers through the sunbaked earth, drinking water for the people I chose, the people I made especially for myself, a people custom-made to praise me.” (Isaiah 43:16-21 MSG) How funny that you get to enjoy forgetting about old history…but even the ‘buzzards will have to tell God ‘Thank you!’ And surely if God can cause ‘buzzards’ to tell Him Thank You, so can you! Today, make a deliberate decision to be happy and joyful and content. Today, remember the Lord’s Help, Hope, Compassion and Care. Today, remember the Lord’s Great Love and Great Faithfulness that are yours for the taking! Today, Dare to Hope Because God is There to Help!
“I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom…”
Yes, like it or not, but we will ALL have moments just like the prophet of utter hopelessness because of varying life struggles. However, we must do as the prophet did, keep moving forward as you remember:
Stick it out through the hard times knowing that you have God’s loyal love, His mercy, His faithfulness, His goodness! And all you must do is passionately wait and diligently seek God knowing that your quiet hope is bringing some loud help from God that all will hear! Keep trusting and relying on God; keep pressing through the pain; keep releasing all your hurt in prayer, your turn around will come right on God’s schedule, and He is never late!
Romans 5:5, “Such hope [in God’s promises] never disappoints us, because God’s love has been abundantly poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (AMP)
Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Choose to stay positive and be the strong person that God created you to be.
Dare to Hope, God is There to Help!
Blessings
J.P. Olson
www.journeyintotheword.com
Join Journey Into The Word each Sunday morning at 5:30 AM CST & 6:30 AM EST on The Now Network http://www.theNOWnetwork.org
