Look Around - You Might Like What You See

Do you ever watch Fox News?  Or maybe CNN? Or perhaps you read The Drudge Report for your daily news?  Whatever your source for daily news, do you ever find it quite depressing and discouraging?  Famine in Africa, constant fighting and riots in the Middle East, Celebrities being weird, Sean Payton being suspended from the Saints, politics, politics, and more politics.  Murders, Amber Alerts, corrupt politicians, athletes getting too much money, and oh, did I mention politics?

If you spend very much time watching the news, you will walk away questioning if there is any good in the world.  It's not your fault by any means;  we must remember that "bad news sells", and when we immerse ourself in it too much, we can easily lose hope in the things of God in this world.

In the midst of this broken world in which we live Psalm 33 is a pleasant reminder for me today:  "The Lord loves righteousness and justice;  the earth is full of his unfailing love."  (NIV verse 5)  No matter what we see covered in today's news we can take comfort in knowing that the earth is FULL of God's unfailing love.  So if that's true . . . . how do we find it?

Honestly, it's kind of simple, we just usually don't do it.  All we have to do is look.  But it begins by looking at God:  "But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love." (verse 19)  When we fear Him, when we revere Him, and we our hearts are focused on Him we tend to see things a little more clearly.

So instead of focusing on merely the bad of this world, try today to look at the good.  Instead of the inches of rain falling down in Mississippi today, give thanks, for God is nourishing the Earth.  (We will need this in July remember!)  When you see the suffering in a nation like Haiti, thank God for the many adults, college students, and high school students that have been and will be traveling to that nation to minister to the orphans of Haiti, and lift all up in prayer.  When the world around you is going way too fast, stop and take notice of God's creation.  The Dogwoods still bloom, the Azaleas explode in color, Japanese maples begin to come to life, a few Camellias still carry their elegant flowers, and Lilies have risen up from their winter rest and now begin to reveal their splendor as they sing their song to God.

We live in a fallen, broken, and sinful world, BUT, God's unfailing love IS all around.  We just have to see it.  So I leave you with this prayer:  "May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you." (verse 22)

Sharpen Your Axe

You may have heard the story of the young man who was looking for a new job and went to the local timber company to apply.  He approached the foreman who told him "go cut that tree down and I will let you know."  So the young man approached a large pine tree and began chopping away with all the speed and accuracy he could muster.  In no time, he felled the tree with perfect precision.  The foreman, greatly impressed, immediately hired the new lumberjack.  As the week passed, and Thursday came, the foreman handed the young man his paycheck:  "I though we got paid on Fridays" responded the boy.  "We do pay on Fridays but I am going to have to let you go, so here is your pay for what you did."  The young man was shocked, "How can this be, I worked all week, extremely hard.  I was here before the sun came up, stayed late, and never stopped cutting. I even skipped coffee breaks so I could work."  The boss explained to him that with all that he was still falling further and further behind.  The boy was still in shock and continued to plead his case.  "I don't see how I could have fallen behind, because I worked much longer than anyone else."  With a sense of hesitation, the boss simply asked: "Well, did you remember to sharpen your axe?"  The boy answered back with a frustrating tone: "No I didn't have time because I was too busy working!"

Are you taking time to sharpen your axe?  Are you taking time to spend with God in prayer and meditation?  Are you taking time out of your busy schedule to spend in His word....getting to know Him?

The only way for us to not fall behind in our spiritual walk is to keep our axe sharp.  To stay in tune with God's will by staying in tune with God.  This only occurs through a desire to spend time with Him in prayer, and following that desire up with action.  In Psalm 27 David declares: "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple."  When we have that desire to simply gaze upon the beauty of the Lord (rather than just simply asking Him for things) our axe will be sharpened daily. 

When our axe is sharp . . . in other words, when our spirit is on the straight and narrow path with God . . . . we can cut through the dangerous forests of this life.  As David writes this Psalm his enemies are all around, pressuring him on all sides.  But because of his faith in God, and his time spent with God, he can declare "I am still confident in this:  I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."

Take time out of your busy life today and sharpen your axe.  Turn off the phone, close Facebook, and gaze on the beauty of God.  Praise Him for who He is and pour your soul out to Him today.