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Part One: A Proverb of Wisdom

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Proverbs 4:25- Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

 I recently read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I must confess, going into it I didn't want to read it. I was only doing it because I told my friend I would. (It was a huge encouragement and is now at the top of my recommendations list.) Something from it that stood out to me was Betsie Ten Boom and her resolute faith. In one instance, when she had been beaten in the prison camp, Corrie was trying to help her. But she joyfully pushed her away and said, "Don't look at [my wounds], Corrie. Look only at Jesus." 

 Let me tell you, that rocked my world. I got to thinking, "How many of my troubles are a reality because I've taken my focus off Jesus and have been distracted with myself?" The answer hurt. Too many. 

 Throughout scripture, the idea is given that we must look to Christ to be delivered. In the Old Testament, because the People of Israel spoke against God and Moses, the LORD sent serpents among the camps to kill them. But He made a way of escape...
"Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived."   (Numbers 21:8+9)

For salvation, we must humble ourselves, looking to the cross of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse our sins. 
"He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross..."   (Philippians 2:8)

 Likewise, after we are redeemed, it is not the time to take our gaze away from the LORD and His supreme authority. 

"... Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."   (Hebrews 12:2)
Look to Christ, friend. Keep your eyes on eternity. It's not easy; it's a battle. Remind yourselves daily, set a reminder, write it on your hand. Pray with Jonathan Edwards, "Stamp eternity on my eyeballs." Make it a priority to remember that when we focus on our own troubles, we drown in our inability to change our circumstances. But who creates our circumstances that leave us "helpless"? 

 Charles Spurgeon said, "I have learned to kiss the wave that thrusts me upon the Rock of Ages."

 Trust in God. "...Wait for the LORD and He will deliver you." (Proverbs 20:22)

 <3 Berea
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