What’s Your Focal Point?

Posted On February 20, 2022

“You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”

Isaiah 26:3 NLT

“What do you think about most? Is it something you lack, a relationship, or some goal?
To what does your mind turn when trouble arises?”

Charles F. Stanley

As a kid, did you ever spin around and around until you got so dizzy you fell to the ground? I did. Back then it was fun, but if I tried it now, I would feel pretty awful! It turns out there’s a trick dancers use to keep from getting dizzy when they spin, but I’m not a dancer. For me, spinning around like that would cause such disorientation that the world would seem to come crashing down all around me. In truth, I would be the one who came crashing down.

While I have learned that spinning my body around isn’t going to end well, I am still struggling to learn a similar lesson for my mind. It seems I have been battling negative thoughts for most of my life. They spin around and around in my head, screaming for attention, threatening to take me down. They leave me dizzy and disoriented and make me feel like the world is crashing down around me. But in truth, I’m the one who’s falling.

“It could be that you are so concerned about what you lack in your life, what others think, or issues beyond your control, that you fail to focus on the very promises and purposes of God that will bring you peace. You may believe you are being proactive or responsible by fixating about certain details and situations, but you aren’t. All you’re really proving is that you do not trust God to guide you.”

~Charles F. Stanley

Maybe you can relate. We read in Scripture that we are wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), but then that voice in your head tells you that you aren’t good enough. We know that God promises never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), but that voice tells you that you are all alone. We know God promises to give us everything we need (Matthew 6:33), but that voice tells you to focus on everything you don’t have. We know that Jesus came to give us abundant life (John 10:10), but that voice tells you that God doesn’t want you to be happy.

Where does that voice come from? I’m not sure exactly. It may come from our own insecurities and fears, or it may come from the enemy whispering lies to us. One thing I am sure of: That voice does NOT come from God! So why do we keep listening to it? If you figure out the answer to that, let me know. The lesson I keep having to learn over and over, the hard way, is that if I keep listening to that voice, I will fall.

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”

1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV

“Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.”

Isaiah 26:4 NIV

The technique that dancers use to keep from getting dizzy when they spin is called spotting. They must find a fixed spot somewhere in front of them to focus on, and they keep their eyes locked onto it as they spin. They don’t pay attention to the world rushing past them because they stay focused on the one spot that doesn’t move. So rather than clumsily falling to the ground, they are filled with grace and confidence as they dance.

The same is true for us as Christians. We may not be twirling around on the dance floor, but we are all spinning whether we realize it or not. The planet we live on is in constant motion. At the equator, the surface of the earth moves at a speed of approximately 1000 miles per hour. (I looked it up!) That’s pretty fast, but we don’t even notice it. Why? Because the force of gravity keeps us stuck to the ground. Basically, we’re spinning just as fast as the earth is, so we don’t feel the motion. This means that a dancer’s “fixed spot” isn’t really fixed at all. Everything’s moving. Everything’s spinning all the time. No wonder we sometimes feel disoriented!

“We all face many twists and turns in life. When we focus on our problems, however, the things we encounter seem unmanageable, leaving us dizzy and heading toward a disastrous fall. The Bible reminds us that if we keep our minds steadfast, or focused, on God, He’ll keep us in ‘perfect peace’ (Isaiah 26:3). Perfect peace means that no matter how many turns life takes, we can remain calm, assured that God will be with us through our problems and trials. He’s the ‘Rock eternal’ [Isaiah 26:4] — the ultimate ‘spot’ to fix our eyes on — because His promises never change.”

~Kimya Loder

The only immovable “Rock” we can fix our eyes on is God. He is unchanging. He is our constant source of peace when we feel everything else spinning out of control. Just recently, I lamented to God about my lack of peace, about my lack of joy, and about all the circumstances in my life threatening to bring me down. After all, I come into His presence every day in prayer. I listen for His voice in Scripture. I do my best to obey Him. Still I struggle with negative thoughts and emotions. In fact, I seem to struggle with them more now than I did before I started this faith journey. I kept thinking, Is God testing me? Is this my reward for trying to follow Him? Why is He torturing me like this?

Then I realized, God isn’t the one torturing me. I’m doing it to myself. I’m sure the enemy is doing his part, too, but I’m the one letting him. I’m the one letting these negative thoughts have a voice in my mind. I’m the one listening to them. There is a reason God commands us to worship Him, praise Him, thank Him, and pray without ceasing. It’s to keep our thoughts focused on Him. When we don’t, we lose our perspective. We get disoriented. We think the world is crashing down all around us when actually, we’re the ones falling.

“The Lord cares more about getting you to His destination for you than you do. Focus on Him — truly fix your thoughts on Him, replacing the messages of worry with His truth — because He will not fail you.”

~Charles F. Stanley

The truth is that God loves us. He cares about us. Nothing He does is to torture us or bring us down. He fills us with His grace to lift us up. But He can’t help us if we don’t let Him. The devil tries to fill us with lies. Our own insecurities threaten to fill us with despair. If these are the voices we are listening to, we will come crashing down. Let’s train our hearts and minds to listen to the Voice of Truth. Let’s make a conscious effort to stay focused on our loving Father. He will replace our doubts with confidence. He will replace our fears with love. He will transform our clumsy efforts into a grace-filled dance . . .

“May we keep our eyes on Him as we go through each day, going to Him in prayer and studying His promises in the Scriptures. May we rely on God, our eternal Rock, to help us move gracefully through all of life.”

Kimya Loder

This week’s Scripture passages remind us to keep our eyes fixed on our eternal, unchanging, immovable God. As we focus on Him and trust Him to guide us, we will stop listening to any other voices that threaten to bring us down. We will stop focusing on the problems spinning all around us. We will be filled with His love and His fellowship. We will be filled with His grace. We will dance!

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

2 Corinthians 13:14 NLT

References:

• “Insight: Ballet Glossary – Spotting.” YouTube, uploaded by Royal Opera House, 8 April 2011, https://youtu.be/88bsYB9i6Mc.
• Loder, Kimya. “Spotting God.” Our Daily Bread, vol. 66, nos. 10-12, 19 February 2022.
• Stanley, Charles F. God’s Purpose for Your Life: 365 Devotions. Thomas Nelson, 2020.

Images:

• Vortex featured image by Janusz Szuba from Pixabay
• Spinning Trees image by kalhh from Pixabay
• Stones image by No-longer-here from Pixabay
• Woman Leaping image by cottonbro from Pexels