Fix Your Gaze
October 13, 2024
Dr. Paul Cannings
Most believers would agree that God is good and He is good all the time, but they probably would struggle to count trials as joy. Sometimes, when there are struggles with illnesses, jobs, marriage, the stress of being a single parent, and the constant stress of managing long bills with a short budget, all we can see are problems. So when God says, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things,” we say things like `I don’t know if I can do that or that is hard.’ The major problem with our thinking is that this verse requires faith, and it is faith that God rewards (Hebrews 11:6). This verse requires that we keep our eyes on what God is doing (since every good and perfect gift comes from above, James 1:17), rather than what our circumstances dictate.
Robert Fulton was utterly discouraged by his steamboat invention and the jeering public response it had brought him. But then, a man went on board the boat one day, and this conversation ensued: “Mr. Fulton, I presume?” “Yes, sir.” “Do you return to New York with this boat?” “We shall try to get back, sir.” “Can I have passage down?” “You can take your chance with us, sir.” “How much is the passage money?” Fulton had never thought about that. After a moment’s hesitation, he named the sum of six dollars. The man became the first to pay for a steamboat passage in history! Fulton met this man four years later and told him: “The vivid emotions caused by your paying me that first passage money will always be remembered. That, sir, seemed the turning point in my destiny—the dividing line between light and darkness—the first actual recognition of my usefulness from my fellowmen”(Tan, Paul Lee: Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations : A Treasury of Illustrations, Anecdotes, Facts and Quotations for Pastors, Teachers and Christian Workers. Garland TX : Bible Communications, 1996, c1979).
This man could have given up because people laughed and mocked his invention. He kept trying only for this man to make his invention a great development for trips around the world.
When life is not going well each day, how can we count it joy or genuinely believe that God is good and truly feel this? It takes place when we look through the eyes of God and focus on what He is doing because of His genuine, sacrificial love for us. (John 3:16-17; NASU) We must focus on the good things God’s loving nature is doing each day so that His gifts keep us feeling blessed. God says that He can take our trials and disappointments and make them work for our good (Romans 8:28), and He uses our trials to teach us endurance and strength for life in a world led by Satan and his demons (James 1:2-4; Ephesians 2:1-2; 5:19). “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13; NASU) This is because; “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” (Rev 4:11; NASU) It is a blessing to be a vessel that God seeks to live in and work through, whether every day goes well or just another day.