I’ve heard people brag about their ability to be REALISTIC by saying, “I just call things the way I see them.” Now, why would somebody brag about something like that? It takes no special ability, insight or talent to “call things the way you see them.” It takes no creativity, no imagination, no effort and, most importantly, no faith. Even a toddler or preschooler can see a situation and repeat back to you exactly what they are seeing! “Calling things the way you see them” is very easy to do. Anybody can do it… so there’s no need to boast in that ability. But, if you can see a situation that looks bleak and dark, possibly even hopeless, and you can speak a word of hope or positivity, you’re doing something very special. It takes imagination, creativity, and, most importantly, it takes faith.
I think about God creating the world on the very first day of His creation. The Bible tells us that after He created the world that it was “empty and void, and darkness ruled over the face of the deep.” Sounds pretty bleak to me! But God didn’t “call things the way He saw them.” No! Instead, He spoke what He wanted to exist, in spite of what was visually apparent to Him. He said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” The darkness was then overtaken by light because He refused to call things the way He saw them.
This is the heritage of the children of God. They don’t “see things the way they are” so they don’t “call things the way they are.” They are like their Father in Heaven… the One who spoke LIGHT when all He saw was DARKNESS.
Romans 4:17
…God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.