Our Narrow Perspective Vs. An Unlimited God

May 14, 2025

Six-hundred years before Christ, there lived a prophet, Habakkuk (huh bak’ uhk). The prophet cries out to God:

How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?

Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. (Habakkuk 1:2-4)

It's important to observe Habakkuk’s perspective in the prayer he offers to God. From his point of view, God seems silent—his prayers go unanswered while “destruction and violence” continue unchecked. Habakkuk also struggles with God’s timing; his words reveal a deep frustration that God hasn’t yet acted against the “strife,” “conflict,” and “injustice.” Finally, God’s decisions appear confusing to him. Why would God allow such things to happen? Why not intervene immediately and bring change now?

God answers Habakkuk:

Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

that you would not believe, even if you were told. (Habakkuk 1:5)

Habakkuk accuses God of standing by and doing nothing, but God quickly makes it clear that He is far from passive. In reality, God is actively orchestrating a plan beyond Habakkuk’s understanding. He is raising up the Chaldeans—a fierce military power—to bring judgment upon Israel and call the nation back to Himself. Rather than sitting idly, God is providentially guiding the course of history, even working through the wickedness of human actions. The Chaldeans, though ruthless, are being used as instruments in God's greater purpose.

On our westward trip, Deb and I visited the Badlands in South Dakota. After feeding a few prairie dogs, we had the opportunity to take a helicopter ride over Badlands National Park.

The Lakota gave this land its name, “Mako Sica,” meaning “land bad.” You can look for miles and see no sign ofcivilization. This land has been so ruthlessly ravaged by wind and water that it has become picturesque. Located inSouthwestern South Dakota, Badlands National Park consists of 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. Erosion of the Badlands reveals sedimentary layers of different colors: purple and yellow (shale), tan and gray (sand and gravel), red and orange (iron oxides) and white (volcanic ash).

Badlands National Park also preserves the world’s greatest fossil beds of animals from the Oligocene Epoch of the Age of Mammals. The skeletons of ancient camels, three-toed horses, saber-toothed cats and giant rhinoceros-like creatures are among the many fossilized species found here. Prehistoric bones are still being uncovered today by park officials.

It was our first time going up in a helicopter and we were excited and nervous as our pilot took off.

We were almost immediately up and flying over Badlands National Park, seeing the many pinnacles and spires from above, the many different colored layers of rock below us. The Badlands Loop Scenic Byway stretched out below us.

It was beautiful flying over the Badlands, looking down from above, seeing a perspective many never see, a perspective impossible to see driving through the park on the Badlands Scenic Loop Byway.

After we landed, Deb and I entered the park and drove through the Badlands.

Our perspective was now very different as the pinnacles and spires shot up to the right and left of us, closed in behind us as we went around a curve. We could only see so far ahead and behind, so far to the right and left, attimes the many different colored layers of rock towering over us. At overlooks we stood on the edge of gorges and valleys created by erosion and wind over the centuries, as other towers of rock shot up beside us. The colors in therocks were more vibrant. We got to see a few of the Badlands many residents including a Big Horn Sheep and two Antelope.

Our experience in the Badlands reminded me of the prophet Habakkuk and the truth that our perspective is not the same as God’s. Often, we see only the surface, while God is working behind the scenes in ways we can't see or comprehend. Here are a few scriptures that remind us of this truth—that God is always at work, even when we don’t understand His ways:

I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. (Job 42:2, ESV)

[God] declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” (Isaiah 46:10, ESV)

"He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted." (Job 5:9, NIV)

God says, “…so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shallaccomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11, ESV)

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!" (Romans 11:33, NIV)

From our limited point of view, it may feel as though God isn’t listening or isn’t working. But we must remember—our perspective is incredibly narrow.

*Geographically: We cannot be everywhere.

*Intellectually: We cannot know everything.

*Spiritually: Our motives are not always right.

*Morally: Many times, we don’t know what is right and wrong.

*Chronologically: We cannot know the future or fully/accurately remember the past.

*Physically: We are not all powerful. We have physical limitations.

We see only a small piece of the picture, while God sees the whole. What seems like silence or inaction to us may actually be part of His greater plan unfolding in ways we can’t yet comprehend.

Remember, God’s perspective is limitless.

*God can be in all places at all times.

*God knows all things.

*God is the source and standard of morality and spiritual goodness.

*God is the beginning and the end.

*God knows the future and the past perfectly.

*God is unlimited in power.

Brandon Langley, of St. Rose Community Church, writes: “When we shake our fists at God and say, ‘How couldyou?’ ‘How long?’ ‘Why?’…We are created beings speaking from our limited perspective demanding answers from an unlimited God.”

When you are down among the rocks and boulders and cannot see around the next curve, cannot see the horizon orwhat is ahead, the hills closing in behind, remember God is up above seeing the whole picture.

God speaks through the prophet:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

We may not understand where God is taking us or what God is doing, but as Paul writes, we can be assured, we can know, “…that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28, NIV).