What am I going to do about this situation?  Is there anyone who can help me? What is going to happen? We often don’t know what to do or where to turn.  We seek counsel, think about it nonstop, and we worry.  We worry about how we were treated and what they deserve.  We lose our focus on what we should be doing and become distracted by things that lead us away from our main purpose in life. We spend time telling a friend instead of telling our one Friend, Jesus.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

Taking thought has the meaning of distracting and dividing.  I am an expert at taking thought.  I think about how I could fix a situation and because it seems to fit, I believe it is God who has given me this thought.  The thought is of my doing and it is distracting me from God’s plan.  The thought divides me from truly hearing God and being obedient to His timing, His way, and His total plan for my life.   When my focus gets diverted and I get distracted, my thoughts and practices become divided. It’s all under the disguise of God’s will; when, in reality, it’s not His will for me at all. 

Sarai, Abram’s wife, is a perfect example of our topic. She got distracted.  She thought herself right into a terrible situation; all because she lost her focus on God’s truth. His truth is very clear in Genesis 15:4-6, “And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”  Sarai’s focus left God’s Word and she began to reason with herself, “How can I have children?  Abram and I have been married for years.  I’m sure God means that I should have a child through my handmaid, Hagar.  After all, she is mine, so her child would be mine.” (Gen. 16:1, 2) Sarai’s focus was altered by wrong thinking. Wrong thinking sent her in the wrong direction.  She took matters into her own hands and it affected the rest of her life.

You and I are like Sarai.  When God doesn’t do what we think He should, or, when we think He should do it, we take thought.  We begin to think and plan, taking matters into our own hands, under the disguise of God’s will. Our focus is distorted by our own doing. We take thought instead of “take no thought” as the Bible says in Matthew 6:25-34.  Verse 34 sums it up by saying, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Because of our lack of obedience we miss what God has for us.

Let’s focus on Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Are you a child of God?  If so, you are “the called according to his purpose.”

1.               Think about the promises of God.  Write them down in a journal.

2.               Praise God through the situation and allow Him to work in you and through you.

3.               Focus on your attitude and actions instead of how you would like for the outcome to be.

4.               Read your Bible faithfully, truly seeking God for counsel and guidance.

5.               Talk to your One Friend, Jesus!

Are you keeping focus?