Where is My Mind?

Scripture tells us to set our minds on things that are above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2). We're also instructed to fix our eyes on what is not seen, because the things that are not seen are eternal and last forever, while the things we can see with our eyes are temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Hold up... How on Earth are we supposed to do any of that? How can we focus on "seeing" things we can't see and what happens when (understandably), we fail to?

The Lord gave us a great case study of this with the Israelites, as He delivered them from slavery in Egypt and then led them through the desert into a land that would be their own.

Throughout their journey, God kept showing the Israelites that He would take care of and keep His promises to them. However, they constantly struggled to have any lasting joy or peace. Instead, they focused more on physical, temporal concerns: the foods they missed having back in Egypt, their thirst for water while in the desert, and the size of the Canaanites who already inhabited the promiseland, for example.

Though all of these were in fact reasonable concerns, the Israelites failed to realize that what they had with them was infinitely greater than anything they left behind or could see lying ahead. They had the presence of the one, true Living God. They received His guidance in supernatural ways (Exodus 13:21). They were given His word (Deuteronomy 1:8), and promised His all-powerful, never-ending love (Deuteronomy 31:8).

God's guidance, faithfulness, and love are some of the eternal things from “above” that Scripture is talking to us about. Had the Israelites chosen to fix their minds on these things rather than on the obstacles in front of them, they would have experienced the joy of remembering that their Heavenly Father had already proven He was greater than all of their previous obstacles. They would have lived with the peace of knowing He'd always come through for them in the future, too.

How often do we make this same mistake in our own lives?

Sometimes, we end up focusing more on things like physical provisions, money, our relationships with other people, and having a chance at worldly success than on our walk with God. We see the setbacks and obstacles in front of us as bigger than the promises God already made us. We fear that our own inabilities, or others’ ability to overpower us, are somehow greater than God’s ability to do what He said He would do. In many cases, we wish our troubles would just go away, because we think having a smooth, easy life in this world would be better than the Heavenly things we only discover by walking with God through hardships.

The truth is, we'll never be able to focus on the things above and yield ourselves to the Lord unless we truly trust Him first. We have to trust that God will be faithful to us in order for us to ever want to submit and be faithful to Him. How can we do that, especially in the midst of wilderness-like circumstances that leave us doubting how things could ever work out?

By accepting His word, and reflecting on His past and current faithfulness in our personal lives.

As Hebrews 13:8 tells us, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." That means that if the Lord has ever been faithful to us before, even once, we can be sure that He will be faithful to us in the future — because His character is constant.

In the case of the Israelites, they witnessed God faithfully take care of every single concern they had in powerful ways. They stood in awe as He parted the Red Sea so that they could walk through it and escape from the Egyptians (Exodus 14:21-31). They saw Him rain down food (or manna), from the sky while they were walking through the wilderness with nothing to eat (Exodus 16:1-16). They witnessed Him use Moses to deliver water from a rock when they were thirsty in the desert and had nothing to drink (Numbers 20:1-13). God even caused them to defeat various armies that were way bigger and stronger than them as they marched toward the land He promised them they would have.

The Israelites needed to refocus their minds and realize they were walking with a God Who'd been good to them in the past and would continue being good to them in the future, even if they couldn't see it yet. This is something we must be intentional about doing in our own lives, as well.

I invite you to pause and think: can you identify some ways in which God has been good to you in the past? Have you ever been in a situation, perhaps, where it seemed like there was no way for you to get what you needed but somehow, you ended up with it? What about an instance where you know you should have faced some pretty bad consequences, but instead were spared?

If we simply stop and set aside a few minutes each day to think about it, we’ll find there are many ways God in which has worked to bless us -- even in situations where all we could see at the time was difficulty or pain.

Understanding God's faithful character and recounting the good things He's already done for us is the only way to overcome what we see in front of us. No matter how tired or afraid we might find ourselves while walking through the wilderness, we can choose to fix our minds on the better, sweeter, eternal things of God. If you are ready to do that, join me in saying this prayer.

---

Lord God,

Please allow me to remember how You've come through for me in the past and recognize how You're currently blessing me in the present. Help me to understand that no matter what obstacles I see ahead of me, You go before me and are Defender behind me. What may look or even be impossible for me is completely possible for You, Lord. Help me to take my mind off my temporary circumstances and, instead, fix it on Your eternal character. Let me recall the faithfulness and love You've already shown to me, and trust that You will do all that You’ve promised You would do in the future.

In Jesus’s name,

Amen.