I sat behind the steering wheel, just listening to my children in the back seat deep in conversation. Their discussion revolved around a “lucky” penny they’d found. It’d been haphazardly discarded next to the cart return area in the grocery store parking lot. My resourceful son, of course, picked it up. One man’s trash, a little boy’s treasure, I suppose.

“Sister, look at this penny.” I heard him say intently. “It’s soooo old!”

“How old, brother?”

“Way old. Older than everybody. It’s dates all the way back to 1998!”

I laughed out loud. Yet as he spoke, it struck me the power of perspective. To my son, that penny was ancient. To me, however, it conjured up warm memories of youth, of high school days, of time that really didn’t seem so long ago. Just like a child, we too often see from our limited perspectives. We judge based on what we know in the moment. We assess with the partial information we possess, which makes it challenging at times to understand and accept God’s work and ways, especially when they aren’t what we necessarily want.

Psalm 90:4 says, “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.”

At first, this verse may seem daunting when considering the vastness of God’s perspective. But embedded within it is also a promise of closeness—“but as yesterday.” God doesn’t just see a “thousand years” behind and before. He sees it all as if it were yesterday. That means He understands your pain as if it just happened. He comprehends your struggles and holds them in proximity to Him, down close to His heart. Even though we can’t oftentimes grasp God and all He is doing, we can still trust Him. He’s big enough to hold the whole world in His hands and hold our hearts close too.

*First published by The Joyful Life Magazine.