It’s A Matter of Focus

Psalm 135
1Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, O servants of the Lord,
2who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God!
3Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing to his name, for it is pleasant!
4For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.
5For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.
6Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
7He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
8He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast;
9who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;
10who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings,
11Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,
12and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.
13Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.
14For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
15The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
16They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see;
17they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths.
18Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them.
19O house of Israel, bless the Lord! O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!
20O house of Levi, bless the Lord! You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!
21Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem! Praise the Lord!

Sometimes, the clamor and jangle of the world gets to me. And “sometimes” probably isn’t even accurate. It’s more like often. Often the clamor of the world gets to me. In the U.S., we watch as our government officials seem to be trying to destroy one another. Just defeating an opponent isn’t enough – it appears destruction is the goal – on both sides. And the media can’t get enough. And while that is disturbing, we look out across the globe and see wars that have been raging for years and don’t seem to be finding an end any time soon. Children are bombed or poisoned, and no one seems to truly care. When I speak with the people in my life, I find that they are personally troubled. Things aren’t going well. They are in debt, sick, or their children are struggling. It’s all too much.

And then we come across this psalm and things snap back into perspective. All of the chaos in the world cannot take away from the fact that God is still God and He is still worthy of praise. All the crazy in our lives  cannot undo that truth. I’m sure the person who wrote this psalm would have said the same things about his life as we say about ours. But God is still praiseworthy. That cannot be undone.

And none of our struggles are a surprise to God. He knows about them all and He cares about them all. There is not a time when things have slipped from His control. It was good for me to read these words this morning – several times. It’s good to be reminded that no matter how we shout and carry one with one another, He is still God and He is not wringing His hands over our chaos. Instead, He is working His plan. So today, I’m going to look away from the chaos and instead look into people eyes and listen to them. I’m going to try and live out reality – God is still in His heaven and all is going as He planned.

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