7 Keeping God’s Attention?
KEEPING GOD’S ATTENTION?
There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to keep someone’s attention.
I went through that game as an immature teenager, desperately seeking to impress the captain of the football team from our neighboring high school. I vividly recall those ridiculous mental gymnastics I went through … trying to dress right … combing my hair just so … losing those few extra inches around my waist … working so hard to impress … striving to pique his interest with my witty conversation. I felt that his fondness for me waxed and waned according to how clever and cool my overtures were.
What a disaster that relationship was! Frankly, I got plain worn out trying to hold his affection. He dumped me and I deserved it. Through it all, however, I learned something that’s stayed with me through the years.
I’m reminded of that frenzied high school romance every time I catch myself trying to keep God’s attention. Have you ever thought of it in those terms? When illness comes, when anxiety threatens, when conflict disturbs our friendships, we may conclude God has gotten bored (or worn out) looking after us, and has shifted His attention to a more “exciting” Christian.
“Look over there, Archangel Gabriel. Now, that young woman has possibilities. She’s a climber. So responsive! So disciplined and faithful! On her way up in the kingdom. Too bad about Joni. I think we’ve invested more than enough time and energy in her for a while.”
Or we imagine that God becomes disgusted with our meandering obedience and decides to stand us up, leaving us to fend for ourselves for a while. (“I’ll teach her a lesson!”) We’re afraid that if we don’t somehow keep ourselves in God’s spotlight, He’ll get too busy juggling galaxies or fulfilling prophecy in the Middle East. Or worse yet, we might so exasperate Him that He won’t take the time to sort out the complicated mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.
If you ever find yourself thinking thoughts even remotely like these, run, don’t walk, to the book of Psalms. Get alone for a few uninterrupted minutes with Psalm 121. Open your heart and let the Spirit of God bring those words home to you in a very personal way. It won’t be long before those feelings of discouragement and inner turmoil begin to fade like a bad dream.
Down in a valley, in desperate need of encouragement, the psalmist looks all around him—north, south, east, and west. From where will his help come? Only from the Lord, the very creator of those intimidating mountains and hills that surround him (vv. 1–2). With his eyes focused on this mighty source of strength, the singer’s spirit begins to bubble over with assurance.
This caring, concerned God, he tells us, “will not let your foot slip.” Twenty-four hours every day, seven days a week, He will keep watch over you. He is a shade to you through long, weary days and a guardian through the darkest of nights (vv. 3–6).
Does anyone really care about your life? The Lord God does. “He will watch over your life.” As a matter of fact, “the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (vv. 7–8).
Oh, please don’t make the mistake of supposing God’s desire for intimacy with you waxes and wanes according to your spiritual temperature. God’s love doesn’t vacillate according to how many victories you have over sin or how many times you use His name in your prayers. His love for you goes deeper than mere affection or surface infatuation.
Your God will never be fickle. He will never give up on you. He will never become distracted. His interest will never cool with the passing years. You don’t have to worry about trying to impress Him in order to catch His eye. In fact, His constant desire is to draw you closer into His embrace.
Read Psalm 121 and let the matchless love of God sweep away your doubts and fears. You already have God’s complete attention, and you will never lose it. The real question is, how will He keep yours?
A Step Closer
But Zion said, “I don’t get it.
GOD has left me. My Master has forgotten I even exist.”
“Can a mother forget the infant at her
breast, walk away from the baby she
bore? But even if mothers forget,I’d never forget you—never.
Look, I’ve written your names on the
backs of my hands.”
ISAIAH 49:14–16, THE MESSAGE
In Psalm 46, the Lord says,
“Be still, and know that I am God.”
Another way of saying that might be,
when we aren’t still, we forget that God is God.
We forget that He loves us, knows everything about us,
and never loses sight of us for a moment.
Do you have a place—and a space—away from the
noise and busyness of your daily world to just focus
your attention on Him …
and feel His unwavering attention on you?
Go there today.