What is a normal amount of perspective? – Psalm 96, Part 1

One of my favorite movies is Notting Hill from 1999, in which actor Hugh Grant plays a travel bookstore owner, William Thacker, whose store and apartment are located in the Notting Hill neighborhood of London.  He has a chance encounter with American film superstar Anna Scott, played by Julia Roberts.  Their chance encounter leads to a romantic relationship between William and Anna.  The film is what has been called a romantic comedy because of so many hilarious lines and mishaps.  One of my favorite lines in the movie is when William and Anna have a falling out, and William desperately tries to get Anna to see that she is overreacting. 

He says to her, “Seriously. In the huge sweep of things, this stuff doesn’t matter.”

Just then, William’s hilarious roommate, Spike, pokes his head around the corner.  He has clearly been listening to the conversation, and he says to William and Anna, “What he’s gonna say next is there’s people starving in the Sudan.”

William responds, “Well, there are, and we don’t have to go anywhere near that far.  My best friend slipped down stairs, cracked her back… and she’s in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.  All I’m asking for is a normal amount of perspective.”

A normal amount of perspective. 

It’s hard to come by a normal amount of perspective these days. 

The passage from the Bible we’re studying this week, Psalm 96, helps us have perspective.  Pretty much all Bible passages help us have perspective.  God’s perspective.  But I am particularly taken by the perspective in this psalm. It’s a lot like the perspective that William was trying to give Anna in Notting Hill.

Here’s Psalm 96. Read it and notice the perspective it gives us.

Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth. Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns.” The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Did you see the perspective this psalm provides us?  Did you see how it is like what William wanted to Anna to remember?  Yes, no, maybe?  In the next post we’ll begin to take a closer look at Psalm 96 and the perspective it brings.

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash