Fix Your Gaze...

I was just reading some Western short stories...  you know - the type with rustlers, thieves, and a good guy who ties all the bad guys up at the end.  ;)  Anyways, I was reading and at one point in the story it was describing the good guy...  and he was NERVOUS!  I mean - this guy didn't know what was going to happen, and there was so much stuff to worry about.  So when he saw a person come out of the saloon, he didn't gaze directly at the figure, and he kept moving his eyes, scanning the country, so that his gaze didn't become fixed on the man standing down there.

Interesting.

If the man had nothing to worry about, if he knew what was happening - then he wouldn't have had a need to keep shifting his eyes.

"Let your eyes look directly ahead
And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.
26 Watch the path of your feet
And all your ways will be established.
27 Do not turn to the right nor to the left;Turn your foot from evil."  ~Proverbs 4:25-27

Something needs to be said about a scientific fact we all know - When you fix your gaze on something for long enough, your eyes start blocking out everything in its peripheral sight.  And not only that, but if you temporarily take your eyes away from what you had them fixed on, you can still see the object!

What if our lives are supposed to be lived like that?  Where we know the path that we are taking, and we've seen it so much (with our minds), that we are able to still see the bigger picture even when we get bogged down in the little details of life.  When we have to take our eyes off our vision for a moment to do things in the here and now, we actually never lose sight of that vision!  Watch the path of your feet and all your ways will be established.  :)  And while you're at it, don't turn away from that path.  Keep your feet away from doing evil.

"The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  ~Psalm 23

"The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defense of my life;Whom shall I dread?"  ~Psalm 27:1

What do these verses have to do with fixing our gaze on the path in front of us?  Just this - The Lord, our shepherd, guides us in those paths - so what do we need to fear that may be off the path on the side???  I have always imagined the "Valley of the shadow of death" was a straight valley, with a narrow path to walk on with many things off on the side, distracting us and turning some of us off the path.  But here's the first fact about fixing our gaze that I stated earlier - if our gaze becomes fixed on something, then it blocks out the peripheral stuff - no distractions calling us to death on either side of the path God is guiding us down!

God is the defense of our life - whom shall we fear?  It's a rhetorical question.  If you don't know the answer, I suggest you read a book - The Bible.  ;)

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."  ~Hebrews 12:1,2

So, in conclusion, we need to remember some things:

• We're running in a race, going down a path mapped out for our lives.
• God is protecting us, so we don't need to worry about the people/things that distract us and turn us off the path and into evil.
• We need to have the vision of the path in our minds so that we can still "see" it even though we need to stop and do something at the moment that means taking our eyes off the path.
• And last, but certainly not least, We need to have our eyes fixed on Jesus!  If you look at Hebrews 12:2 closely, you'll see that it's telling us to have our eyes on Jesus, because He finished the race!

I completed my first obstacle race this past Saturday, and let me tell you, it encouraged me to run my best because I heard of (and saw) people running the race quickly and efficiently!  And if I had someone guiding me on the race, you better believe that I'd be better off with someone who knows the path so well because they've endured it before.  Doesn't it say something in the Bible about the blind leading the blind?  Well - trust me, the person you want to guide you through your path in life isn't someone here on earth (thinking of the Joel Osteens of this world), it is Jesus Himself!

So give control of your path through life to the One who can guide you through it.  :)

~Justus