Look Around You | Daily Devotion
“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 NKJV
Do you see Jesus Christ in your midst?
Remember in Isaiah 6:1-8 when Isaiah didn’t see the Lord until King Uzziah died?
Who was King Uzziah? He was a powerful king known all over for bringing peace and prosperity. He had a powerful army. He was smart and walked and talked with God. He obeyed the Lord. Those who were under his care lived good lives. So how come Isaiah did not see God until this amazing kind died?
This happens today actually when people are that taken care of. For some reason when people do not live lives of gratitude, recognizing the ultimate giver being God; when they do not see their provision as coming from their Great Shepherd, humbling themselves recognizing God in their midst – blind oblivion can easily take over. It happens so naturally. A mind not focused on the Lord.
It's very easy to increase in knowledge and forgot our Savior. It is very easy to increase in finances and forget our Savior. It is very easy to increase successfully and forget God. It is very easy to experience that deliverance, where your heart is saying finally, and forget the One who delivered you. I mean the Israelites were exhorted to not forget God when they entered the Promised Land. The Promised Land, the land they so desired.
There is a direct correlation between our physical life and our psychological mindset. Issues in your physical life naturally constrict the physical brain functioning, which directly impacts your mind and your thoughts – your mindset. When life circumstances bring stress, cortisol levels increase. This heightened state for prolonged periods of time is not healthy and can change brain functioning, decreasing mental ability.
Nevertheless, often times this is when we seek God or we blame God. But it doesn’t have to be.
If we only seek God or see God when our life is facing stressors, we are living a spiritually immature life. Those who say God only speaks in the valley times, forget Moses heard God on the mountaintop when he was not facing any difficulties. God simply invited him to the mountaintop to speak to Him face to face.
And today, like Moses, God invites us everyday to speak to Him on that mountaintop, no matter our circumstances.
God has given us God-ordained spiritual disciplines to encounter God everyday no matter what we are facing in life. We grow in spiritual maturity when we put into practice these disciplines out of a desire to know God and when we live out God’s truths.
He shows us the path He wants us to take, each and every day, when we sit in His presence or walk in His presence we experience that fullness of joy – complete satisfaction – and here we recognize Jesus Christ, who sits at God’s right hand, is the greatest gift, He is our pleasure in this life.
This is offered to us every day, not simply when we are struggling.
It is when we live attuned to Him, humbling ourselves with any increase recognizing He is the One who brings the increase – that we see Him in our midst.
We do not need major catastrophes to happen in our lives to see God, we do not need constant suffering to see Him and hold His power – we simply need to seek Him, repent of sin, and obey His commands.
We simply live life in His presence.
Will you pray with me?
Abba, thank You for Jesus Christ’s never changing presence in our lives. We ask Lord for You to open the eyes of Your own to see Him in their midst, understanding they do not have to live lives constantly suffering to have the eyes to see and the ears to hear for those are gifts You freely give. In Jesus’ name, Amen.