Focus

Today, I read Numbers 13-14. It is about the spies that were sent into the land of Canaan. All of the spies, except for Joshua and Caleb, came back with a horrible report. They were focusing on the people of the land and the impossibility they saw in conquering them. They could never inhabit this land flowing with milk and honey...they were tiny like grasshoppers! Really? Seriously? All of the people began to moan and complain because they focused on the people of Canaan. They even said that they would have been better off if they had never left Egypt. Are you kidding? These people had seen numerous signs and wonders, displays of God's power. They walked through a sea on DRY land, they ate manna that fell from Heaven, and a cloud led them by day and a pillar of fire by night (God VERY visibly led them). When they grew tired of the manna, God sent quail for them to eat. Yet, somehow, this miraculous God was not enough to conquer the people in Canaan. It amazed me, yet convicted me. Their focus was not on the right place. If they had been looking up, they would not have been so overwhelmed by what was visible in front of them.

I am not so different from them. I have been having major migraine problems again and am on day #7 of head pain. And while I cannot forget that I am in pain, I can redirect my focus. In Philippians 1:21, Paul says "For me to live is Christ..." If He is my focus, then these "things" around me won't be so overwhelming. I get really upset that I spend so much time in pain during my kids' younger days, but it really doesn't matter in light of eternity. There will be no pain in heaven. What matters is that my life is for Him, that I teach them about Him whether I'm in pain or not, and that they learn that He is faithful regardless of life's circumstances. I want them to learn to keep Him as their focus. I want them to know that they serve the same God who led His people out of slavery in Egypt and that He had good plans for them, plans for a land flowing with milk and honey. May I keep my focus on what truly matters!