"I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8 (NIV)
The six weeks leading up to Easter Sunday have traditionally been a time set aside for spiritual growth, prayer, reflection, and communion with God. This tradition began as early as 100 AD as the church took shape. The early church saw the need to set aside a special time to focus on training new followers of Jesus and strengthening the existing followers. This year, Sunday, March 1 begins the six weeks of our special focus on our spiritual growth. Easter is April 12th.
The verse from Psalm 16 printed above is our theme verse. I love the picture the Psalmist paints and the concept that he conveys. Keeping our eyes always on the Lord and keeping the Lord at our right hand! What a challenge because we are easily distracted from closely following the Lord as the circumstances of life come our way. We begin to trust in our own abilities and our own skills rather than realizing the God is standing right next to us and is willing to give us the strength and courage that we need to face our particular problems and challenges.
As we walk through life, we continuously measure whether we are up to the challenge. Many times we fear the coming circumstances because we cannot change or control them. As these fears pile up, we can become discouraged and stressed out. This verse reminds us that we can face those circumstances
so long as we keep the Lord at our right hand. (If you are left-handed, you can keep him at your left hand.) The point is we can focus on the promises that God has given us to constantly be with us and to keep him right beside us. Keeping God right beside us and focusing on his presence contrasts with thinking that we must make everything work out on our own according to our own abilities. It contrasts with a culture of constant worry and fear that overwhelms us.
We had planned a Spring Bible Study for these six weeks. Ron Reece and I were going to lead a study on the second half of Acts focusing on how God led Paul and the early church leaders through difficult circumstances and persecution. We had to postpone that study due to my upcoming knee replacement surgery. You may want to read Acts 13 to the end during these weeks and consider what God is teaching you about keeping him at your side and keeping your eyes on him.
David Brock
David loves being with people and greatly enjoys serving as pastor of Spiceland Friends Church. He and his wife, Linda, enjoy spending time with their three grown children and their grandchildren. David is also a full-time attorney. David likes to say that his job description is simple - it is like a pizza delivery person - deliver a hot, fresh sermon each week in LESS THAN 20 MINUTES! Actually, he does a few more things at the church, but his focus on the pastoral team is preparing a Sunday morning message that makes the scripture relevant and applicable to our lives.