WATCHWORD:
22 “Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. 23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. 24 He shall say, Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength. To Him men shall come, And all shall be ashamed Who are incensed against Him. Isaiah 45:22-24
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’ Isaiah 6:8
Meditation:
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Have you ever let the graces and the gifts that flow from God, feed your pride? You know, take credit for the bounty that God has laid upon you? Are there times when we expect God to come to us and rescue us from a difficult situations?
When we get ourselves into trouble, isn’t our tendency to call on God to bail us out? Help me, Jesus, and in His time our troubles are addressed and we’re free. Then, do we strut around and reflect an attitude of ‘look at me, see what I solved’? When the reality of a situation is that we have been blessed, we have received graces from our Lord.
How do you say, “It was all God, I had nothing to do with it”? George Bennard, Methodist preacher in the early years of the 20th century, had a melody playing around in his mind for years. Then, one evening, he sat at his kitchen table and, in an hour, wrote all the stanzas to The Old Rugged Cross, each word falling perfectly into place with the melody. When asked about his authoring one of the most beloved of hymns, his answer was “I was merely the instrument God used.”
Yes. Often we are the instrument God has used, without knowing it. Yet we should know and we should acknowledge our belief that He is in the details, in the healing, in the rescue, in the writing, in the solving. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching his disciples, and us, to narrow our interests until our mind and heart and body are all focused on Jesus Christ. It’s not “look at me see what I accomplished”, it’s Jesus saying, “look to me…”
The truth of the matter is, if we will concentrate on Jesus, we will find what we are looking for. It’s hard for us to imagine that the gifts and graces that flow from God might distract us from the very gifts and graces we received, but that’s the work of pride in our lives. That is what we must guard against. Do we take credit? Or, do we say “I was merely the instrument God used.”
You and I need to wake ourselves up and truly look to God in all of the ups and the downs of our lives, and build our hope on Him. Do you feel overwhelmed by the many things pressing down upon you? Push them aside. Look to Jesus and know. Know what? Know He holds the answer, He holds the solution. He knows the way out of the pit, and salvation is ours the very moment we look to Him. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Give it all to Him. Be still and know that He is God. Amen.
Sing the Prayer:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. So are you weary and troubled, no light in the darkness you see. There’s a light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. And the things of the earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. Amen.
