Clean Lenses = strength & peace

Take a minute, just a quick minute. You can spare it. It will be so worth it. You know you need it. I sure did.

Just a short break to clean my lenses. Because a clear focus can change everything.

Here’s how it happened …

First, I asked for it. (Sometimes I forget to stop and do this.) It’s basic and important.

Loving God, draw me close to You and give me Your perspective.

Then I read Truth. Slowly. And more than once.

May the Lord give strength to His people!

May the Lord bless His people with peace! 

Psalm 29:11

Wait! Don’t move on. Let it soak in.

The Lord will give … The Lord will bless …

He’s done it over and over and over. Without fail. He will do it for me this day.

The LORD will give … The LORD will bless …

And who is this Giver, this Blesser?

So I looked back at the description found in the first verses of this psalm. That’s what cleared the smudges and dust from my lenses.

The same Voice that created the worlds, this is the Voice that is lifted on my behalf. His Voice –

thunders, powerful, majestic,

breaks cedars, causes countries to move,

flashes in flames, shakes the wilderness,

brings new life, changes landscapes, and

comes from the One enthroned forever

He is the source of my strength.

          Whatever my concern, my care, my challenge – He is stronger.

He is my source of peace.

Whatever brings fear or stirs anger – He is bigger.

And He loves me.

I need to see this clearly. So, I looked other places in His Word to confirm the gifts of His peace and strength.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. John 14:27

And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

… even when … (I started writing a list of things that could distract me from the Truth.)

… and even if …

• my calendar is uncertain
• my finances are troubling
• my elderly parents are fading in strength
• my family lives far away
• my body is recovering so slowly
• my dear ones make regrettable choices
• my loved ones need employment
• my world is filled with injustice and betrayal
• my efforts to do the right thing are weak and wavering
• my closest allies face unwise and inappropriate authority figures
• my resources for wise counsel are not available
• [You can make your own list.]

And then I kept asking Him to reform my heart, my mind, my strength – my whole soul.

Oh, loving God, help me soak that whole list in the Truth of who You are.

Let me measure each of those things against what I know of You.

Cause my heart to be marinated in the Truth of Who is giving me strength and Who is blessing me with peace.

Every challenge and every catastrophe throughout Scripture – throughout history – is set in motion for one purpose: that we might know our God.* That same purpose is in motion now. Gaining that focus allows me to enjoy living in strength and peace.

Jesus, keep my view of You clear.

Keep me focused on Truth.

Loving God, may You be known.

Those quiet minutes to sit with Him and remember who He is – to clean my lenses and clear my focus – that changed everything!

Feel free to borrow my lens wiper! But be sure and bring it back, because I will undoubtedly need it again.

*If you go to blueletterbible.org and put “know that I am” in the search box, you will see how many different circumstances were set in motion so that God is revealed as Lord of all.