Look To The Lord

1 "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness

and who seek the LORD:

Look to the rock from which you were cut

and to the quarry from which you were hewn;

Isaiah 51:1 (NIV)



We hear of strange behaviors in people’s lives, sometimes, the tales we hear are of people who receive mistreatment from others. Then, we hear stories of those who say or do hurtful things in order to cause problems to those who earlier received the malicious treatment.

As I sit her in the quiet of my home, I wonder why people have to inflict those around them with such grief. Those who receive these hurts find themselves hard-pressed in dealing with those who repeatedly choose to cause hurt.

We live in trying times, unemployment, health issues, and general unrest abounds everywhere we look. These circumstances do not respect any age group, any socioeconomic class, or people in any career.

People of Christ aren’t exempt from these tribulations. We have learned that certain trials beset us because we are still human; we call them issues of life.

What can we do to conquer these vexations? I have seen people act prideful and choose to ignore the issues at hand. Their thinking is that the circumstance will go away on its own. Others choose to aggressively fight the situation. We see this when they or their loved one has a life-threatening disease. Sometimes, this approach has a positive outcome. I recently heard of a family who had less than a week to deal with the health issue of a loved one before he passed away. The family is relying on God to comfort them. At other times, the outcome is a negative one. We all know of families that have lost fellowship with one another because someone said something that caused hurt to another.

From time to time we have to prioritize our lives. We have to make our relationship with God real and lasting. We have to let Him direct our ways.