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Single-Minded

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Ezekiel 1:12-13 And they went every one straight forward; wherever the spirit would go, they went, and they turned not when they went.13 In the midst of the living creatures there was what looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning.

I found the following illustration regarding multitasking: So you think you can multitask? Texting while driving? No problem. Watching television and reading the Bible? No problem. Checking your email while listening to a spouse, a child, or a friend? No problem. In reality, however, according to a team of researchers at Stanford University, multi-tasking causes big problems. A Stanford University news service article announced the study this way: “Attention, multitaskers (if you can pay attention, that is): Your brain may be in trouble.” The researchers originally set out to discover what gave multitaskers their special focus; instead, they were surprised to discover that in many ways multitasking impairs performance. So while many people think they’re effective at juggling multiple tasks, they’re actually pretty lousy at it. For instance, heavy multitaskers are suckers for distraction and for irrelevancy. According to one of the researchers, “Everything distracts them.” Multitaskers were also more unorganized in their ability to keep and retrieve information. They were even worse at the main thing that defines multitasking: switching from one task to the next. Heavy multitaskers underperformed in almost every area of the study. The article based on the study concluded with this advice: “By doing less, you might accomplish more.”

James 1:8 echoes the truth of this finding stating: [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. It’s interesting that the phrase two minds or double-minded is literally translated “two-souled.” As many of you know I used to drive eighteen wheelers, or semi-trailer trucks. One of the things I learned quickly was where I focused my eyes was where my truck was going. This sounds obvious but it required constant vigilance and discipline. For some reason if I became distracted by something on either side I would begin pulling in that direction. (Which many of you have most likely experienced driving down the interstate). Hebrews 12:1-2 reminds us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Psalm 16:8 echoes this: I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Why would the writer of Hebrews use Jesus as the example of faith? Jesus was singly focused on the Father’s Will. So much so that He wouldn’t do things that were not in the Father’s will. Why? That’s where Jesus’ faith and trust rested. And there’s a clue for all of us. Multitaskers “faith” is in their mistaken ability to think they can do several things at one time equally. Whenever our faith is focused or even shared with any thing or anyone other than Jesus we end up losing our way, running into things, in a ditch, or worse. Fixing your eyes on Jesus, and setting the Lord at your right hand requires faith and focus.

When I was a teen I used to compete in a track event known as the 440 yard relay. I was the “anchor man” for our team. Early on our coach taught us to avoid the temptation of focusing on anything other than the finish line. This was hard to do. Especially, when your competitor maybe a second slower, and you can hear his feet pounding the track right beside you. In that moment it is easy to look sideways or even backwards. But our coach taught that when we did this we shaved a second off our time – causing us to possibly lose the race. As followers and believers in Jesus we have one Anchor Man, and His Name is Jesus. He is the only one Who can empower you to win, and finish your race well. Take hold of His Anchor and allow it to guide you not only through life but in your everyday disciplines of prayer, reading the Word, thanksgiving and worship. Allow His Faith to rise up in you, focusing on Jesus at your right hand while you seek Him, His Presence, and stepping out in response to His leading. This should lead you to doing things that only Jesus would do. Henry Blackaby reminds us in the course Experiencing God, Our world is not seeing God because we are not attempting anything that only God can do.…What are you attempting to do that can only happen if God brings it to pass?

Abandoned By God?

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In the movie, ‘Faith Like a Potato,’ a farmer with anger management issues becomes a follower of Christ in South Africa. Surrendering His life to Jesus leads him to become a follower of His Word, and this leads him to take a bold, step of faith. Needing to bring in money for his family, he decides to plant a crop of potatoes. Being that his farm is in South Africa, the land is very dry. Most would think it was dead and no life could come from it. With no rain, he begins to question his decision to plant. So after a while of waiting, he and his farm hand decide to take a chance and dig, but first they pray. As he begins to dig, what is revealed is astonishing. The seed yields crops twice the size of what is expected. How is that? He was looking for signs of rain, signs of growth above ground. All the while there was water running underneath the ground.

When we begin seeking Jesus through prayer and fasting at first it feels dry, arid and lonely. Then you begin to wonder if He has passed you by – rejected, and abandoned you. But just under the surface a River is flowing watering the seeds of your faith as you cry out to catch fire with the Presence of God. What seems to be paradoxical, and a contradiction, actually makes perfect sense in the realm of the supernatural, Kingdom of God. How can water start a fire? How can life, come from something that appears to be dry, and dead? How can God be near when He feels so far away?

Following Israel’s idolatrous practices at the golden calf Moses receives some distressing news. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way. (Exodus 33:3) Could you imagine being Moses? You have abandoned your way of life, and seen God do amazing miracles through you, and for His people. And just as it seems you are nearing the finishing line – God says He’s leaving you. You can hear his anxiety as you read some of the discussions he had with God: Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, I know you by name and you have also found favor in My sight. (Exodus 33:12)

And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here! For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth? (Exodus 33:15-16)

And he said, If now I have found favor and loving-kindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance. (Exodus 34:9)

Moses was sweating bullets knowing that if God abandoned them the watching world would begin to mock God, and His people. But God was working in that dry patch of wilderness. Something was happening beneath the surface that couldn’t be detected by the natural eye. In Exodus 33:14 it appears as if God is contradicting Himself, or at least appearing to change His mind, when He replies: And the Lord said, My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. But notice that God didn’t say He would go with them. He said His Presence…would go with them. In fact God states in Exodus 33:2 that an Angel would go before them: I will send an Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite. What’s odd is that this Angel represents God and His Presence. He speaks for God in the first Person as you see in other Biblical references to this Angel. The Amplified Classic Translation has the following footnote for Gen. 16:7: “The Angel of the Lord” or “of God” or “of His presence” is readily identified with the Lord God (Gen. 16:11, 13; 22:11, 12; 31:11, 13; Exod. 3:1-6 and other passages). But it is obvious that the “Angel of the Lord” is a distinct person in Himself from God the Father (Gen. 24:7; Exod. 23:20; Zech. 1:12, 13 and other passages). Nor does the “Angel of the Lord” appear again after Christ came in human form. He must of necessity be One of the “three-in-one” Godhead. The “Angel of the Lord” is the visible Lord God of the Old Testament, as Jesus Christ is of the New Testament. Thus His deity is clearly portrayed in the Old Testament. The Cambridge Bible observes, “There is a fascinating forecast of the coming Messiah, breaking through the dimness with amazing consistency, at intervals from Genesis to Malachi. Abraham, Moses, the slave girl Hagar, the impoverished farmer Gideon, even the humble parents of Samson, had seen and talked with Him centuries before the herald angels proclaimed His birth in Bethlehem.”

What appeared as God’s abandoning His servant Moses, and His people, was actually a blessing in disguise. Pre-incarnate Jesus was going to be with them, and go before them, to prepare the way. In your walk with the Lord, there are times when it will appear as if God has passed you by, or even abandoned you. Don’t you believe it. Rise up in faith, pressing into the God of the unseen as if He is seen – trusting that He hasn’t gone anywhere. He is simply adjusting your focus and perspective to receive greater revelations of Who He really is. Don’t give up, and don’t give in – Immanuel, is near. The God Who called you to pray, fast and seek Him is the God that is planning a surprise party, and a bumper crop of His Glory and Presence.