Hello Parkgate!
For a part of my day yesterday, I was rummaging around my house counting up how much toilet paper and soap we had accumulated. That was something I never thought I would have to do - let alone doing with a sense of concern. (Don’t worry - we have enough to last us a while!) While we have enough food to last us a couple of weeks, Brandi and I are being safe and doing our best to measure our serving sizes just to be safe.
Living in this way is unfamiliar and different - and that can cause us to grow anxious about the state of the world. Living isolated from others can lead to feelings of loneliness and fear. Living like this can cause us to lose focus.
Losing focus is something that can occur at any moment of our lives. Sometimes, we lose focus because we are bored. Other times, we lose focus because we are distracted by something that seems more engaging at that moment in time. When life gets flipped upside down as it has these past couple of weeks, our focus can almost disappear completely .
As Christians, we are told to focus on God. (If it is in the Ten Commandments that we should hold God above all else, He had better be the focus of our life!) But when things get thrown into disarray, time and time again, humanity loses focus on God. When the Israelites were brought out of captivity in Egypt and had to wait to enter the Promised Land, they lost focus. When Peter was confronted about his relationship with Christ amidst the fear and panic following Jesus' arrest, he lost focus. But just as there are passages in scripture about people losing their focus on God, there are passages that remind us of how to obtain it.
Psalm 63
was written by David during a difficult time in his life. He was wandering in the wilderness because he was being persecuted by King Saul. There was literally someone out there
(and a king at that)
who wanted him dead. We wouldn't blame David if he began the psalm with words of frustration and despair at his own plight. Instead, though, David writes this: “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
David is choosing to focus on God. Despite having to flee into the wilderness, he remains focused on God. Despite thirsting for actual water in a dry land, David thirsts for God more. In our present circumstances, we must remember to intentionally focus on God first.
God is with us in this time - he has not left. God is present with you no matter where you find yourself today. My hope is that each of us chooses to focus upon him instead of giving in to the stresses, worries, and fears that our current state has brought upon us.
Remembering where to focus,
Pastor Andrew
