Seeking

As I sat in the window seat, in the conference room at Glyndley Manor, listening to some teaching, I found my attention was drawn to a fly on the window. This fly was running up the window, buzzing back down to the bottom, to walk back up again. The fly did this for quite some time. The only break it took was to wash its eyes. Eventually it gave this up and started to walk round in small circles, still stopping to wash its eyes. It was as if the fly could see the outdoors, but, because it couldn’t get out there, it seemed to question if it was real.

Pausing to wipe its eyes seemed to be to make sure it was seeing clearly. Although it could see freedom, it couldn’t quite manage to get free. As I watched this fly, God began to speak to me. It’s funny the things that God uses!

I began to see how like the fly we can be. We can see freedom, even want freedom, but yet can’t seem to quite walk into it. No matter how much we keep our vision clear, it seems there’s an invisible barrier between us, and what we want. We can spend lots of time running up and down trying to make sense of our situation, and the world about us.

How many of us have to get things straight in our mind? We have to get a mental grip on the situations and issues that we face. So, like the fly, we try to clear our thinking and try to re-think it again. I wonder if we can take a moment to be honest about how often we think and re-think about issues before we bring them to Jesus? If we’ve been honest, we might be amazed at how many worrying scenarios we think of when facing one simple problem.

As the fly did its circles, I thought about all the stress and anxiety we cause ourselves when we try to work things out. We so easily lose sight of the truth of the matter, and of Jesus. Take a moment to think about the things you’re worrying about. Perhaps it’s finances. How will you pay that big bill? Perhaps it’s job security, our children, our family, our future, or the way the world is. Or maybe we go a bit deeper, and think about our relationships in the past. Did we get something wrong? Was there past sin or ongoing sin? All these things can send us down wrong paths, and prevent us coming into the fullness of the freedom God has for us.

But the more we walk the walk of life with Jesus, the more we seek His ways in all things, and the more we’re obedient to what He says, the easier we’ll find life becomes. Once we take our eyes off the problems and focus on Jesus, seeking Him and His Kingdom, it’s amazing how all the other things seem to become smaller and easier to handle. So if you’re walking up windows, or walking round in circles, lift your eyes to Jesus, and allow Him to show you the way to the open window, and freedom which can only come through Him.

Prayer: Father, thank You, that You sent Your son Jesus to die, so I can be free. I’m sorry, Father, that I’ve spent much time and energy trying to work life and its problems out, for myself. I recognise that much of my time is spent worrying, and stressing about the things I know I should bring to You. I’m sorry that my focus has been on the issues, rather than on You, and that I’ve tried to sort things out myself. Forgive me, Father. Today, I’m choosing to seek after You in all things, and walk in the safety of Your ways. In Jesus’ name. Amen.