"LOOK AT HIM"
Psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you, he will never let the righteous be shaken.
A cow and calf elk ran up out of the valley below us. We had heard a bull bugling down in there as well. When I heard him coming up towards us I called to him, hoping he would think I was the cow and calf that he had lost track off. Sure enough, he turn right towards us and walked right up nose to nose with my buddy Gary, who was doing his best to hide behind a recurve bow.
The bull stood with a few feet of Gary for a few seconds then began to turn back to go. As he turned I whispered, "draw". Gary drew his bow back and while concentrating on a small spot behind the bulls shoulder, he released the arrow. Because he continued to look at that spot he was successful. The bull ran just 50 yards and piled up. Gary had harvested a great 6x6 bull elk.
A long time ago I watched the movie, THE SHACK. The film was questionable at best, but one scene in the movie shows Mack in a row boat that is breaking apart and sinking. The character that represents Jesus walks out on the water to Mack and tells him,
"When all you see is your pain, you lose sight of me.". Then he tells Mack over and over again, "Look at me". He reminds him, don't look at your trouble, look at me.
At any time in our lives, and especially while we go through pain, taking our eyes off Jesus is the most dangerous thing we could do. Strangely, it is also the easiest. We can let past hurts, troubles, or even good things like ministry distract us from the ultimate prize, which is Christ alone.
Keeping our eyes upon Jesus is rarely an easy thing. Our old, fleshly sin nature fights against any attempt to remain faithful to the Savior. We can forget that our reward is Christ Himself and wander off into the vain pursuit of other things. We can allow the cares of this world to push us away from the Lord instead of looking to Him in the midst of our pain and difficulties.
In Hebrews 12:1-2, the apostle Paul writes about this very thing.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
No matter what we face in life, we can get through it, if we continually keep our eyes on Jesus. He is our example of love, peace and more.
We will be hurt by the world. Family and friends, even those that are closest to us, will let us down and even attack at times. But God will always be there to see us through.
Like Gary, you will only be successful in life if you refuse to take your eyes off the target. In our lives that target should be a abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
When all else is falling apart, Jesus says, "Look at Me".
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