Day 2363 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Psalm 51:12 NIV

This one kind of ties in with yesterday's post. I've noticed something about myself recently and I seriously want to work on it. I realized that I've become pretty cynical, or maybe jaded is a better word. I think it comes from spending too much time trying to figure out why people are doing what they're doing, and why the world is seemingly spinning more and more out of control because of it. But I just feel this lack of joy and peace all of the sudden and that's definitely not the way I want to spend my time here. So something needs to be done.

I think I've become a victim of not practicing what I preach. I have talked so many times about not being distracted by the world around us, and yet that's exactly what I've done. I know that it isn't, but if hypocrisy were an olympic sport, I'd be the record holder! But I guess the same goes for all of us. We all say the right things but maybe our actions don't quite match up all the time. Thankfully we're still breathing so we have time to change who we are, how we live, and what we focus on. And having felt this depletion for a little while now, that's exactly what I intend to do!

What we need to ask ourselves is if we want our lives to be a product of the world around us or of the joy that God offers. As He tells us plainly in Isaiah 55, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." HALLELUJAH!! We don't have to spend our time being consumed by this world. We don't have to sit around trying to figure out why people do what they do. We don't have to allow this world or the things that people do in it to steal away our joy and leave us feeling numbed and disheartened. We have the opportunity to set our sights on God and to learn from and live according to His ways instead.

Look, this world ain't gonna get any better. But that doesn't mean that we have to be victims of the downfall. We have the freedom to focus on what matters. We can stop paying attention to all of the nonsense around us. We may be surrounded by foolishness and depravity, but we don't have to let it inside! But sadly that's what it does best. It finds little cracks where it can sneak in and start dragging us down. I know that it's happened to me, and I'd venture to guess that I'm not the only one that can say that. Thankfully God offers us His Spirit to help guide us through the minefields of life toward what matters.

There's an incredible hope found in this verse. That who we've been doesn't have to be who we are going forward. That the things we've allowed to pull us away from God aren't as powerful as His desire to pull us back to Him. He can help us fix everything that's been broken and restore everything that we've lost during our time spent focused on the world. We can change who we are. We can change what we focus on. We can decide to pursue His joy and not let anything take it away from us again. And the most amazing part of all is that He can help! All it takes us us surrendering to Him and laying down all the other nonsense that we've been captivated by for so long.

As I've said so many times in so many of these posts, we are the ones that decide what we focus on in life. And if what we've been focusing on is stealing our joy and bringing us down then we need to quit while we're behind and pick a different path. He will restore whatever we've lost or given away to other things. And He will teach us how to be more steadfast in following Him. But we have to turn around. We have to ask for His help. We have to be willing to change. If we can do that then there is nothing that He can't help us with. Including finding our way back the joy that we found in His amazing gift of salvation. Life doesn't have to be miserable, we just have to stop letting the wrong things win our attention.

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