5-23-2019

      Good Morning All,

   Psalm 119:37; “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways."

    There is a trick that you can play on your friends.  Place a length of 2X4 on the floor and have them try to walk the length of it.  Often times, they will take a few steps and then stumble off.  You can then get on and walk from one end to the other without any trouble.  The secret is where to look. 

     If you try to walk a straight line on a board or even just a marked path; if you look down at where you are walking you with tumble and stumble.  If you look up and out at a point ahead of you and keep your eyes focused on that spot; you can walk a straight path.  By focusing on our goal, the walk will be straighter than if we focus on each step.

     Back in the days when farmers plowed, the straightest plow furrow came from the farmer looking off into the distance and focusing on a tree or a fence post and then driving straight at it.  It is important to see the goal when we strike out on our path.  This is true of any journey.  If you don’t know where you are going; it is easy to get lost along the way but how do you know you are lost if you have no destination to go to?

    Our spiritual life is the same way.  As we walk along if we look down we will stumble.  If we keep focusing on the world around us it will destroy us.  The world will always question us about our faith and it will ask questions which we cannot answer.  We all experience or observe things which make no sense to us and which we cannot change.  We continually ask why; why do these events occur?  Some may be big events; why do people die when they are so young?  Why do they die when they are so young?  Why do we see these senseless events?  Why?

     Some of these events may be smaller, at least to others.  Why does my spouse seem to pull away from me?  Why do we feel more like friends than husband and wife?  Why do my children seem indifferent to me?  Why do my colleagues seem to avoid me?  All these events and others can shake us to the core.  We may even stumble to our Bible and look for an answer and not feel like we hear any response. 

     People often decide to blame God at this point.  It is easy to do; he is God he can fix it.  This is true but when we say it; we always quietly add that qualifier to the end; and fix it like I want it.  There is where we really begin to stumble because the devil has us replacing God with our selves.  There is a lot of pain in this world and you and I can never solve all of it.  We can only attempt to comfort those around us and to bear each other.

     One thing we often do which gets us into trouble is that we look to the wrong thing.  We need to look up and look to Jesus; we need to keep our mind and our faith in Jesus.  The terrible events of the world do not reveal God to us but reveal the world to us.  God reveals himself to us through the cross and the empty tomb.  He is our hope and our salvation.  We will experience pain and sorrow; that is the lot of mankind.  But we know that a brighter day awaits and in that our hope is laid.

Dear Father, the world would have us look around and demand from you the mysteries of the universe.  Forgive us when we question you and your will.  Give us faith to trust; give us faith to look only to you and give us the hope of eternal life and the resurrection for which we wait.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret