Missed Blessings 

There is an old saying that points out a common problem— “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” It is used to describe someone who gets distracted by or bogged down in the smaller things (details) and misses the big picture, the main thing, or the ultimate goal. (You may have heard the story of the art student who was chastised by the teacher because he spent so much time painting the details of the individual shingles on a barn that he missed capturing the beautiful sunset over the pasture.) I suppose that most of us have that problem at one time or another. Sometimes, it is not that big of a deal . . . but sometimes it is way big. It can be a “way big thing” when it concerns spiritual things.

One example that comes to mind is Jesus’ criticism of the hypocritical teachers and Pharisees in Matthew 23:23. He said, “You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.” In 23:24 he adds, “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” His point was that they were so concerned about obeying the most minute things in the law (tithing on the smallest of their spices) that they missed the pursuit of the big things—promoting justice, practicing mercy, and living faithfully. That kind of thing can happen when we are concerned with what someone wears (or isn’t wearing) at church and overlook the fact that they actually came to church. Or we don’t like the songs that the worship team is leading, so we don’t sing our praise to God. Some trees need to be cut down.

Another “tree issue” came to mind this past week as I was reading Paul’s comments to the church in Corinth. In 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 he said, “But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.” Paul didn’t let the tree of opposition block his view of the forest of opportunity. What gets me is that were I to be in his position, I probably would have said, “There is no opportunity here because there is so much opposition.” I would have missed seizing God’s blessing. Do you have that problem? I think that many of us have bought into the idea that if we are “in the middle of God’s will,” it will be like a walk in the park and the sun will always be shining. That is not the picture that we get in the Bible. Some blessings come through struggle.

So how do we deal with the tree issues in our spiritual lives? Most importantly, I believe that we have to ask God—continually—to help us pull back from our limited perspective to see things from his perspective. Paul was so good at that. In Philippians 1 we read what Paul writes from jail. He says that he is limited from preaching freely on the streets, while others get to go wherever they want and preach. He points out that some were doing it for the right reasons, but he knew others were not. Yet he states, “But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). Instead of complaining about what he couldn’t do, he rejoiced at what God was doing. He wasn't about to miss out on recognizing that blessing.

This week, let’s make it a point to ask God for a view of the forest. Step back from the tree (or trees) that block(s) your view. Get a bigger picture. Don’t miss out on a blessing. 


Mark Farish
August 31, 2010 

Unless otherwise noted, all scriptures are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)