by Pastor Afolabi Oladele
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Psalm 42:1
If you have been around little children long enough, you will observe that when they want something they are unable to get immediately (it may be food, new toys, new experiences or just more of a treat) it becomes their object of unrelenting focus. They persistently ask, sometimes throwing tantrums when the request is delayed or denied. Aren’t we sometimes like that?
These traits can be harnessed to both positive and negative ends depending on how we each subject ourselves to the instructions of the Lord our God. For the positive, consider the following starting with our text of today:
- Psalm 42:1 poses several questions, the principal being – is the Lord Jesus the object of our unrelenting focus? Matthew 6:33 demands that His Kingdom and its righteousness must be prioritized over the pursuit of meat, drink and clothing. Maintaining Him as the object of our focus is a manifestation of our confidence that He knows we have need for the other things which He provides even without us asking. And should we have to ask, then consider yet,
- Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:5-13 teach us that if we have the child and father relationship and approach Him so, we have the assurance that He will give good and beneficial things as He alone best knows and in His time, not mine even though we have to patiently persist. Philippians 4:6 says, Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. More than this we are assured of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the apex or pinnacle of good things, the abiding presence of God in our lives.
Will you reflect on these and hold steady? Shalom.
Photo by Eagle Media Pro on Unsplash
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