Psalm 16:8-11 (NIV)
“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Where is Your Focus?
“Keep your eye on the ball.”
There weren’t a lot of kids in the neighborhood where I grew up. We were scattered in age, but we all managed to get along, and many of us are friends to this day. In the summertime, we played a lot of baseball in the evenings, even though we barely had enough players for one team, let alone two.
Often my father would join us and give us tips on how we could improve our game. One thing he said quite often was, “Keep your eye on the ball.”
Being typical kids, we were easily distracted. His point was that we were never going to hit the ball if we didn’t focus on it. This one piece of advice helped us all to become pretty good hitters as time went on.
To this day, when I am trying to finish a task and I get distracted, I hear my father’s words again, “keep your eye on the ball.” In other words, say focused on the task that matters the most right now.
David offers similar advice when it comes to our spiritual life in Psalm 16:8-11. We need to stay focused on what matters the most, which for the Christian is our relationship with God.
In keeping his eyes on the Lord, David discovered 3 things:
Prayer
Creator God, thank you for your love and protection. Thank you for always being faithful. Help us to turn our eyes toward you today, so that we may be filled with your joy and peace. In the name of our Risen Savior Jesus. Amen.
“I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Where is Your Focus?
“Keep your eye on the ball.”
There weren’t a lot of kids in the neighborhood where I grew up. We were scattered in age, but we all managed to get along, and many of us are friends to this day. In the summertime, we played a lot of baseball in the evenings, even though we barely had enough players for one team, let alone two.
Often my father would join us and give us tips on how we could improve our game. One thing he said quite often was, “Keep your eye on the ball.”
Being typical kids, we were easily distracted. His point was that we were never going to hit the ball if we didn’t focus on it. This one piece of advice helped us all to become pretty good hitters as time went on.
To this day, when I am trying to finish a task and I get distracted, I hear my father’s words again, “keep your eye on the ball.” In other words, say focused on the task that matters the most right now.
David offers similar advice when it comes to our spiritual life in Psalm 16:8-11. We need to stay focused on what matters the most, which for the Christian is our relationship with God.
In keeping his eyes on the Lord, David discovered 3 things:
- God is our strength: With Him by our side, we will not be shaken. We can rest in complete assurance that He is with us in all situations.
- He gives us joy and is faithful: He takes delight in us and views us as His perfect and most beautiful creation. He is faithful to us and is always with us.
- He gives us direction and all eternal pleasures: By keeping our eyes on the Lord, we can know the path of life, we are filled with joy and His eternal pleasures! No wonder the enemy would love for us to take our eyes off the Lord.
Prayer
Creator God, thank you for your love and protection. Thank you for always being faithful. Help us to turn our eyes toward you today, so that we may be filled with your joy and peace. In the name of our Risen Savior Jesus. Amen.
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