Perspective in Numbers
I like to win. I'm not sure that makes me unique, but I really do not like to be on the losing end of things, especially when I'm expressing a point of view, sharing an idea, proposing a new way to do something etc...
20 years ago, as a very young people leader just getting my first opportunity to lead, I often argued from emotion, wrongly thinking that if I got louder, more emotional or more passionate about things, I'd convince others to see things my way.
In retrospect, it seems ludicrous, but I truly believed that this was the way to best get my point across.
I was wrong of course and the Lord used my then leader to show me the error of my thinking. He taught me to put in the work and time to do my research, to quantify things and position my argument in a way that mattered and made sense to those who had the power to make the decision, and finally to document everything.
His favorite saying was "In God we Trust; Everyone else needs to present data."
At first, I struggled to build the discipline required to make this new "do your homework" approach stick, because it was hard work. I liked the ease of going in unprepared and just shouting my way through it. But I discovered that, much more often than before, when I did my homework, I won.
Remember, I like to win...a lot.
The perspective I gained helped me to become a vastly improved presenter of ideas, changes, challenges and proposals because I was using the power of perspective that data, numbers and facts possess.
In the book of Numbers, God Himself presents data. He leads Moses to complete a census and in the first chapter of the 4th book of the Old Testament, we learn that the young nation of Israel, counting ONLY males 20 years and older, measured over 600,000 in number. Imagine that number. That is nearly the population of the entire state of Vermont. WOW. Be fruitful and multiply indeed!
God had blessed this growing nation and was preparing them for even more blessings, sometimes through war and other hardships, but blessings nonetheless.
Throughout the book of Numbers, God presents compelling data and evidence that He is in control, that He is mighty beyond compare, that He is leading His chosen nation to greatness.
How easy it is to forget that our God still actively leads us today. How easy it is to lose site of perspective; to think that we are alone, on our own and without guidance.
=====================
Dear Father God. Be with us today and every day, reminding us that you are actively in control, that you have ALL things from the dawn of time to the end times, perfectly in perspective and that you will never remove your love from us.
Amen.
=====================
TIP: click the Bible Reference and then "more details" to get hyperlinks that open Bible Gateway
What's the big deal about Jesus?
No comments:
Post a Comment