thecrump

Recently, I was listening to a teaching by Matt Chandler when I heard him say something that perked my interest. He spoke about looking at year 5 trillion of our life rather than year 30, 50 or 10 for that matter. In essence he was saying we should have an eternal perspective, but I like the idea of thinking ahead to year 5 trillion.

You may be asking, "How's that work?"

Think about a difficult life circumstance you've been in and how every moment during that time you were constantly aware of that difficulty.  Maybe it was an illness, a relationship problem or loss of a loved one.  Your focus was on the event and it's impact on that moment, that day or that year.  Now, imagine if you looked at the circumstance from the 5 trillion year view.  Where will you be in 5 trillion years?  As a believer we will be experiencing the blessings of God in the realm of heaven where that difficult situation from year 30 is seen as a stepping stone closer to God rather than a life-stopping event.

I was reminded of this concept today as I was reading Ezekiel 11.  God spends much of the first chapters of Ezekiel displaying His power and declaring to Israel that He is going to use His power to punish them.  In fact, this is already happening since Ezekiel is prophesying from the people's captivity in Babylon.  Needless to say, the people are in the middle of a very difficult circumstance.

This is not without warrant, since their hearts were far from God.

Ezekiel 11:12 "and you will know that I am the Lord. For you have refused to obey my decrees and regulations; instead, you have copied the standards of the nations around you."

Yet, while God is in the midst of punishing His people He also gives them a glimpse of year 5 trillion.

Ezekiel 11:18-19 "“When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols. ¹⁹ And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart,^[b] 20 so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. "

This declaration of Israel's future heart change is God encouraging His people to focus on Himself.  He desires them to look towards the One who lives in eternity.  He is the One who exists in majesty and who holds the power to change their year 50 as well as their year 5 trillion.  While in the midst of our pain we may not realize it but the reality is that many times it is because of our year 50 that we are able to experience year 5 trillion.