Keep your eyes on God. I’ve had someone ask me before what that really means. Because apparently, I say it often. So what does that really mean? And what does that look like?
EYES ON HIM.
It’s sort of become my life mantra after the rolling seas of 2014. It’s when I learned to keep my eyes above the waves; to keep my eyes on God and not my circumstances. And I say it often, yes, because I tearfully lived it and know how it can change the depths of the really hard from bitter to bearable. I know there are others, many others, who have done the same. And these are my words. The ones that I come back to over and over as we move forward in life. I can’t hear them enough. They are the words I need every day to keep me grounded in faith. Because my JOY, my purpose, lies in God. Not this life. And I’ve found that when my eyes wander, my faith fails. I forget who I am, where I stand, and Who goes before me.
So the week I’ve had has been rough. My foot has been caught up so to say, and I’m surprised that it could happen so quickly. SO easily. Just when we think we are above something, even the smallest of things, we get tripped up. Sin is no joke. It’s crafty. It can throw any of us from the mountaintop to the depths in minutes. And Satan is always crouching at our door, my friends. Looking for a weakness, anything to detour us, trip us up. Waiting for the second we take our eyes off our Lord so he can step into view and keep us distracted and down. He doesn’t want us looking to God. He wants to skew our perspective and steal our joy. Sometimes our eyes need to be on the Lord so we can survive the big things. But other times, we need our eyes on Him to keep us from falling into sin, even the little ones.
I’m reading in 2 Chronicles again this morning, a book I can’t seem to get away from. And I’m also reading in Isaiah 6, Psalm 55 & 84, and Exodus 12. It seems like a lot, I know. But I’m fresh off asking for forgiveness and my heart is hungry for truth, and I’d like to share how God is speaking to me.
Oftentimes when I journal and study the word of God, I crank up the worship music. And I’m always amazed how God weaves the music into the pages of His word. This morning as I’m pouring over verses, somehow all these things I’m reading are melting together to say the same thing. To take me to the same place. And as I’m engrossed in the story of King Jehoshaphat, there it is in the background, a familiar song. I recognize the melody, it’s oddly familiar. But the words, they fail me. And as the song plays, the piano reminds me, and I hum the words about mountains moving.
Then my heart pangs, and I remember.
The memories are never too far away I guess. It’s been months since those memories stung my soul, but the song takes me there. And my mind drifts back to the hospital room where I would sing this song and cling to hope.
“And through it all, through it all, my eyes are on you. Through it all, through it all, it is well.” Kristene DiMarco, It is Well
As I flip the page, singing this song, perfectly timed as only the Lord can do, I arrive at 2 Chronicles 20:12…
“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on upon you.”
And there it is…the words of the song on the radio are the same words on the page that I’m reading. Our eyes are on you. It’s the Holy Spirit of God, leading me in song, in His word, and taking me back to that time...
