Re-Focus

To Mr. Bill's credit, we have a beautiful stand of grass in the front yard; everyone who walks on it says so!  Most recently, I've noticed a scattering of webs in the morning dew: spiders!  [Long-time MWB readers know I detest these creatures.]  In Psalm 42, the psalmist refers to a condition of his soul: longing (V.1), thirsty (V.2), in despair and restless (V.5). Doesn't this describe the Christian life? We delight in times of joy and crash in times of struggle. Much like those webs - inconspicuous in the sunshine - we are caught (like an unsuspecting bug) and our souls left longing, thirsting, despairing, restless. Like the psalmist, we need a re-focus: "... Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, and Mount Mizar." (V.6). The writer recalls the Land of Promise where he experienced God's rich graces, abundant and sufficient. Then he speaks to his soul, "Why are you in despair, O my soul? Why have you become restless and disquieted within me? Hope in God and wait expectantly for Him, for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God." (V.11). Perhaps your soul is in that longing-thirsty-despairing-restless condition. Re-focus: see the grass and not the webs. Trust and wait patiently for God [both] in times of joy and times of struggle. He is faithful!