We must learn to focus on the good things we cannot yet see.
In my new book, The Lord Give You Peace: A 28-Day Journey To Thrive In God’s Shalom, I write that “Part of what it means to be created in the image of God is that we human beings have the incredible capacity to be proleptic. To be proleptic is to describe a future event as if it had already happened, as taking place before it could have done so. It is treating something as if it exists, even though it doesn’t yet exist.”[1]
Genesis 1:2 is a prolepsis: “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”[2] This describes the earth as existing even though it does not exist…yet. Whatever was there was shrouded in darkness and covered with primordial oceans. The not-yet-existent Earth was a chaotic mess, unshaped and unlit, void of intelligence, purpose, and meaning. But when God hovered over this tumult, He saw the earth in all its present glory. He saw what could not be seen except in His own mind. Then he spoke it into existence. And from the ugly disorder of what was not the earth…yet, came the order and beauty of what is the earth…now.
You have the God given ability to be proleptic as well. Sadly, we human beings tend to focus on the negative, disordered, ugly, dark, and even chaotic circumstances of our lives. We can choose, however, to focus on the good and beautiful possibilities that can be ours, based on the promises of God through His Word. These promises and positive potentialities often exist in our minds before they are lived and physically realized. But we need to focus our faith, prayers, and words on these not-yet-existent but coming-soon realities.
This is part of what I think about when I meditate on the peace the Lord gives. I think about how often in Scripture His peace is promised. I remind myself that the biblical concept of peace is based on the Hebrew word and concept shalom. I reflect on the fact that shalom is “the harmonious working together of every part of our lives in alignment with God‘s good intentions, bringing holistic well-being, productive flourishing, and happy fulfillment.” [3] And I focus on this: “To bring shalom to a disordered world, to disordered lives, and to disordered circumstances, we must see peace, where peace is not yet. We must hover over discord and ugliness and know it will be arranged into something congruous and beautiful. And then we must act to create the reality that does not yet exist, except in our God-infused minds. We must think proleptically and act assertively to bring shalomic realities into being.”[4]
2 Ways to Fix Our Focus On the “Not Yet.”
1. Focus on the possibility, not the problem.
When we obsessively focus on a negative circumstance, we oxygenate negativity. This is true as it regards every area of our lives, including our mental health. As we all know, there is a proliferation of anxiety, depression, and various mood disorders in our world today. A focus on how anxious we are, or how blue we feel, fuels anxiety and depression. I say this with a deep concern for those who are suffering from any mental health issues.
In his groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman writes that “Worry doesn’t work all that well. New solutions and fresh ways of seeing a problem do not typically come from worrying, especially chronic worry.”[5] He posits that chronic worriers worry about many things, most of which will never happen. And he tells a story about how a person fueled their worry by worrying about worrying. “A woman being treated for ‘generalized anxiety disorder’– the psychiatric nomenclature for being a constant worrier – responded to the request to worry aloud for one minute this way: ‘I might not do this right. This may be so artificial that it won’t be an indication of the real thing, because if we don’t get at the real thing, I won’t get well. And if I don’t get well, I’ll never be happy.”[6]
The point is that it is rarely, if ever, helpful to focus on a problem, even if the problem is real and painful. This does not mean that we should act as if the challenges we face are not challenging. That is not helpful either. Rather, we should acknowledge the challenges we face while focusing on the promises of God to bring better realities into each situation. We should focus on shalomic possibilities. God wants to bring us His peace in every area of our lives.
When Paul offered his famous prescription for anxiety in Philippians 4, he not only said… “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God‘s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand”[7]…he also said…“Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise”[8] (Philippians 4:6-9 NLT). So friends, we must acknowledge the problems we face but focus on the good, even when the good we seek is not good yet.”
As we discussed above, God saw the earth as existing even when it only existed in His own mind. Now consider this: After He spoke what He saw into existence, we are told that “…no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord had not sent rain on the earth…”[9] Let’s focus on the word “yet.” Was the earth flourishing in this passage? Not yet. But it was about to. Why? Because that’s what God wanted it to do, and He was about to intervene to make it happen.
You may look at your life and see things that are not as they ought to be. Things that are less rather than more. Chaotic rather than ordered. Ugly rather than beautiful. Barren rather than productive. You should think that these things are not as they ought to be yet.
Maybe it’s like this: “I don’t have the financial breakthrough yet. I have not received the promotion yet. My adult child has not come back to their faith yet. My marriage is not all that it should be yet. My anxiety is not completely gone yet.”
Focus on the good you believe in, in line with God’s promises. Hover over the possibility even when it is only real in your own God inspired mind. Someday soon, “not yet” will become as real as this glorious planet God first saw in His mind and then spoke into existence. Your life will be a manifestation of the shalom that God wants for you and has made possible through the work of Jesus, who promises you “real and eternal life, more and better life than you ever dreamed of.”[10] I encourage you today; focus on that.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/shironosov
[1] The Lord Give You Peace: A-28 Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom, Terry A. Smith, pg. 46
[2] Genesis 1:2 NIV
[3] The Lord Give You Peace: A-28 Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom, Terry A. Smith, pg. 15
[4] The Lord Give You Peace: A-28 Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom, Terry A. Smith, pg. 47
[5] Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, pg. 67
[6] Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, pg. 66-67
[7] Philippians 4:6-7 NLT
[8] Philippians 4:8 NLT
[9] Genesis 2:5 NIV
[10] John 10:10 MSG
A gifted communicator and cofounder of The New York City Leadership Center (now Movement.org), Terry speaks in a variety of national and international venues, inspiring others to discover and pursue the life God dreams for them. (www.terryasmith.com)
He is the best-selling author of The Lord Give You Peace: A 28-Day Journey to Thrive in God’s Shalom; The Lord Bless You: A 28-Day Journey to Experience God’s Extravagant Blessings; The Hospitable Leader: Create Environments Where People and Dreams Flourish; and Live Ten: Jumpstart the Best Version of Your Life. He is also the host of The Life God Dreams For You with Terry A. Smith & The Life Christian Church on WMCA 570AM & 102.3 FM, on Sunday mornings at 9am EST (www.tlcc.org/dreams)
