What Picture are You Looking at?

This morning at bible study, we were talking about Isaiah 62 and how God had given Israel a new name and what that meant. Israel would not longer be called “Deserted” or Desolate“. She would now be called “Hephzibah” which means the Lord will take delight in you. One lady even took out Israel’s name and replaced it with the country where we live. We live in a deserted and desolate place and she is praying for God to give this country a new name. The discussion went on from Abraham’s name change to thinking about if God gave us a new name, what would it be?

My favorite part of the discussion was a metaphor that our host gave us. She talked about what if you were suppose to go pick up someone at an airport but the picture you were given of the person was 20 years old. How hard would it be to find the person? People change a lot over the years. It could be an easy job or impossible. Then she asked what picture are you looking at when you see your friends and family? Do you see them how God sees them? Do you see how God is working in them? Or are you stuck in the past, expecting them to continue in old habits or ways of doing things? Do you see their actions through the filter of how things were or how things can be? Our host then told of a conversation she happened to overhear between two friends of hers. One was a recent friend and another a friend she had not seen in a while. The new friend made a positive comment about her to which the older friend replied now let me tell you what she is really like. This made my host sad. God had been doing a work in her that her friend either could not see or chose not to see. May I not make this same mistake with those I interact with each day. Our prayer today was that God would allow us to see the new name that He has for our family and friends.

Dear God, Thank you for new names. Thank you for seeing things in us that others do not see. Forgive me for not seeing change in others but expecting them to act as they always have. Help me to see my family and friends as you see them. Help me to rest in you when others don’t see the changes you are making in me and react in a way that is hurtful to me. Amen