The Point of Focus

       There have been number of times when I have tried to quickly take a picture out of my kitchen window. They almost always come out bad and out of focus because the camera focuses on the screen and not the object of which I wanted to take the picture. I took a picture of a Sparrow Hawk through that window and when I downloaded it to my computer I discovered a large grid which the screen in the window. I thought I was focusing on the right object but the camera focused on the closest object which was the screen. Psalm 110:37 says, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”

         In a sermon I heard recently, the preacher was speaking on the objects of our focus. If we look straight at a person, we see that person clearly and we might notice movement in the right or left corner of our eye as we see something move but we don't know exactly what it is due to where we have centered our focus. Spiritually speaking, we should ask ourselves on what we have centered our focus. I often find that I shift my focus from that which is important to that which is unimportant. We are constantly bombarded with opinions and comments about what is going on in the world around us, and we find ourselves focusing on that comment or idea rather on that which is important. It should be an easy matter to come up with the Object of our focus as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Psalmist pleads to God to turn his eyes from that thing which is clearly vanity. He then goes on to plead that he be made “alive” in the “way.” He is referring to the Word of God. The question needs to be asked of us as to where our focus is in any given day, and also at any given moment. What is the most important thing that is going on in your life and in my life right now and virtually in every moment? I can and should always make the same prayer to God that our eyes would be taken away from that which amounts to nothing more than vanity. If my eyes are focused on the storm coming or the storm leaving or the virus that plagues us or the politics of the country and indeed of the world, then my focus is not in the right place. It all sums up with the exhortation that our spiritual eyes and indeed every part of our being should be focused on God and no one else or in anything else. We could well ask the question, “What is God doing with Covid 19? We often complained that we didn't have enough time in the day to spend adequate time in prayer or in reading God's Word. God saw to it that you have plenty of time now to do the things that should be the object of your focus. If “normal” is the way things were, then we should not wait or want to go back to “normal.” Praise God and only God for the things He is doing in our lives each and every day.