Recently as a family we were walking around a large store. I remember walking around a large store as a child – you have the sense of how very big the place is. You have no sense of bearings – where is the exit, where you’ve been or where you’re going, the ceiling is a million miles away. You just feel small. As an adult, I was in full possession of my bearings in the store. My children were looking for the steps, and I knew right where we were and where the stairs were. Of course they knew that I would know, and so they asked me where the stairs were. I responded, “They’re over this way,” while pointing in the direction of the stairs. But guess what? None of my children were looking at me. They continued to turn this way and that, looking around their surroundings for the stairs. How silly! I called them out, “Guys, you asked me where the stairs are but then you failed to look at me for the answer. You just kept looking on your own.”
Oh how often we do this in our journey with God. We are seeking answers for life’s problems, and we know we need to ask him for those answers, but then we fail to keep our eyes on him, we fail to look to him to see his direction and guidance. We just keep searching about aimlessly for the answer. God doesn’t want us to fumble our way through life. He knows that if we just keep our eyes on him, he will lead us in the way we should go. But in order to be led, we have to follow, and to follow, we have to look.
Here are a few of my favorite verses that instruct us to keep our eyes on the Lord:
Proverbs 4:25 “Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.”
Psalm 16:8 “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”
Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
Jesus, Light of the World, promised us this: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Why do we ask God in prayer for direction but then fail to keep our eyes on him? It’s as silly as my children asking me where the steps were located but then not looking at me to see where I was guiding them.
As I answered my children about the steps, I felt God’s Spirit nudge that I have been seeking a lot of answers lately regarding my husband’s job, but all I really need to do is keep my eyes on Him. He’s a faithful guide – so much more so than I am, and I would never lead my own children astray. He will be faithful to lead my family in the way we need to go, but we won’t see the way unless we actually keep our eyes on him instead of frantically looking every which way in life like my children did in the store.
If you are walking through uncertain times, I encourage you to join me in fixing your gaze on God. He is the Good Shepherd and he longs to lead you in the way you should go. But if you’re not looking to him, you won’t see it. You may even be asking him for direction, but in looking all around you seeking those answers, your eyes are not on him. And that’s what he wants most – he wants our eyes on him; he wants to walk with us. The promises of his Word are true for you and me. When we look to him, he will guide us in the way we should go. But you can’t see it if you aren’t looking.