Stay in Focus

 

We woke up in the night  to the sounds of the most ferocious wind that I have ever experienced.  We could see the trees laying nearly down from the velocity of the wind.  One of the grandchildren woke up and we huddled together in the living room waiting for the wind and rain to pass.  Then, we went back to bed.  When we work up this morning, we could not get out the front door.  Our T.V. antenna was laying down with a big tree on top of it in front of the door.  What we could see out the windows was not too encouraging. 

 

There was debris everywhere.  There was tin from the roofs, building materials, tree limbs, sticks and leaves everywhere.  The top of the silo was gone and there were electric wires down.  It was a sight. But, all of us were unharmed and after checking 22 head of horses, found that they were all safe even though some of their pens were full of metal and debris.  

 

One of our neighbors lost the roof off of his new race horse stable and indoor arena.  Another neighbor near by had no damage at all.  Life can bring us many opportunities to wonder why things happen.  I see people who cruise through life and nothing ever happens to them.  Then, I see people who have one thing after another. 

 

I have a friend who was driving down the highway to a barrel race this week when a person veered over and hit her trailer.  Her two horses fell out of the trailer at 65 MPH.  They were injured badly.  This was her second major accident lately - with neither being her fault. 

 

It is important at times like these that we don't begin to compare our circumstances to those of other people.  It is also important that we don't bog down in trying to figure out why things happen.  The only benefits in analyzing the Why's of our circumstances is to see if there was a way we could have avoided them and to see what lesson we can learn from them.  Then we must focus on the road ahead.

 

Turn in your Bible to Acts 12.  In this chapter James is killed and Peter is miraculously delivered from his execution.  Some were grieving and others rejoicing.  Both of these men were called by Jesus to follow Him, yet radically different events happened to them. 

 

The point of this devotion is this:  You can spend a lot of time wondering why things happen to you.  You can spend a lot of energy analyzing the circumstances.  You can get into self-pity and even depression, especially when things go wrong continually and you begin to wear down.  This is a total waste of energy.  I am asked so often, "Why would God allow this to happen to me or to someone who is so special, etc.?"   The Job question has been asked for hundreds of years.  Many books have been written on that subject.  My answer is this:  I don't know and won't waste a minute focusing on that!

 

But, this I do know:  If you will turn your focus to the following scripture, soon you will feel the peace of God and rest in His care:    God says He will never leave you or forsake you.  Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  You will never be asked to bear anything that is stronger than you are.  If you faint in the day of adversity, then your strength was small.  All things are working together for your good if you love God and are called according to His purpose.  He will give perfect peace to those who put their mind on Him.  Let the strong support the weak.  God has a plan for you and for me!     

 

That's enough to make a person sing even while they pick up sticks and tin and nails and trees and leaves!