Avoiding continual recalculation

I will praise the Eternal in every moment through every situation. Whenever I speak, my words will always praise Him. When I needed the Lord, I looked for Him; I called out to Him, and He heard me and responded. He came and rescued me from everything that made me so afraid.  (Psalm 34:1,4 VOICE)

In every moment - through every situation.  IN suggests while being fully immersed in the moment.  THROUGH connotes there will be an end to it, even though we may not see it immediately. I know from my own experience, some things just seem to hang on and on, never really appearing as though they will ever come to an end.  As I come to this realization, I have to recount these words - not everything will end as quickly as we may like it to end, but God is with me THROUGH it, while I am IN it, and therefore, I will be able to endure it.  I just need to learn how to navigate IN it so I am able to see my way THROUGH it to the other side.

Navigation is half the battle.  To navigate just means we have found our way through.  It means we have fixed our course and have a "fix" on the destination.  If you have one of those gizmos in your car which navigates you, then you are probably familiar with the prompt, "Recalculating".  This prompt comes on anytime we make a course determination which will adversely affect our ability to arrive at our destination as plotted out.  That voice in that computer doesn't know we are just stopping for gas so we will have the fuel to arrive without issue!  It can just detect when a course isn't what was established when we first asked for directions!

IN the moment, we make occasional stops for refueling, don't we? We do this because if we didn't we would not be able to get THROUGH the course we are traveling without issue.  God asks us to be as attentive to him IN the moment as we are as those moments pass and we make it safely from this moment to the next. We sometimes look back, recalling all he HAS done, but we forget to be cognizant of the fact he IS doing things on our behalf as we are IN the circumstances of life we are passing THROUGH.  Our psalmist just wants us to keep God in mind at all times - not to allow our focus to become fixed on the circumstance, but to remain on God IN and THROUGH all of life.

As I have mentioned before, where we fix our eyes determines the course (direction) we will take and what it is we will realize at the end of the journey.  Fix it squarely on the chocolate bar in the gift shop and you will eventually end up consuming it or something else to satisfy that sweet tooth!  Rarely do we fix our gaze on something and then not move toward it - if not physically, at least in our thoughts, intents, and emotions.  Even though it may not look like we are moving, the "wheels are turning" and some form of "navigation" is occurring fully dependent upon the destination we have established.  When our gaze is fixed upon Jesus, we are less likely to take navigational turns which will land us stranded along the way.  Instead, we might need to stop to refuel once in a while, but we won't veer far enough from the course determined in order to affect us reaching that destination!  

Praise centers our thoughts.  It helps us keep something in the forefront of our minds.  What dwells in the forefront of our minds frequently enough ultimately will help determine our focus.  Since destination is directly linked to focus, what we center our thoughts on often enough matters.  Just sayin!