When we’re on a roller coaster, or an airplane or whatever else that could have us high in the air the first thing someone says is don't look down. Why is that? Because when we look down, fear happens, doubt happens, we freak out and become disoriented, we tango with confusion until we’re no longer in our right minds to discern what's going on around us.
One could say that's exactly what happens when we take our eyes off of God and start to pay attention to our surroundings. Sound familiar? It does to me.
Too many times I’ve looked down from the Lord, and before I knew it, my heart was hard and I was living in the flesh again: prideful, arrogant, fearful, sad (the list goes on and on). Worst thing about it? I was blind to it all. Truly, we need the Lord to see sin. Without God, sin will blind us and separate us from Him without us knowing it.
Take my word. Been there done that. It’s not fun.
I remember the last time I made the mistake of looking down; months went by before my eyes were opened. When the Lord explained it, the scary part wasn’t that I looked down, but that I didn’t notice.
I mean I had my moments of feeling empty, like I was missing something or becoming distant from God but those times usually came after days of not spending time with Him or acts of disobedience, so shamefully I didn’t look into it.
But our God is faithful, even when we aren’t.
Maybe a month or so before the “big reveal” I started to have these moments where I would lay out in front of the Lord; in what felt like to me complete despair.
I didn’t understand why then but soon after I started to pray for God to expose my heart to me and reveal himself. Coincidence? I think not! (Shoutout to the Holy Spirit!)
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Our God is so faithful!
When we look down we become unguarded and unprotected (by our shields, that is) . We put our swords down unknowingly making our hearts an open target.
When we look down we forget how much we need God. We get so distracted by the world that we forget how broken we really are.
The world is like an ice cream truck.
It’s loud and fun and demands our attention. We pay to be satisfied just to be disappointed moments later wishing we had more.
It’s fleeting. It leaves just as quick as it comes.
But not our God!
