2 Chronicles 18:3 (KJV)
And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.
In my visit with the Lord yesterday, I meditated for a time on “good King Jehoshaphat” and just how good he was. I considered that it could be argued that he was the best king of Judah outside of David.
My devotional work yesterday went a different direction, but today I read of this terrible error on the part of Jehoshaphat. As good a king as he may have been, he surely messed up here.
What strikes me is this: I’ve read these Scriptures dozens of times in my years of faith. I’ve preached through these passages. I’ve written other Visits with God from them. But yesterday I forgot about his future and focused only on what I saw there in the moment.
Life is like that, isn’t it?
We’ve got to be careful about our focus. We can become so fixated on the now that we lose perspective. We can sometimes forget that, despite what may be a very difficult time right now, there have also been times of joy and delight. We can sometimes lose sight of the fact that, no matter how dark it is right now, morning light is on its way.
It is healthy, they say, to “be in the now,” and I would agree.
Years ago, an uncle made a trip to the Middle East. Not long after he returned home, his family grew concerned because he could not remember key events from the trip. They went to a doctor, who said that he had not allowed himself to be in the now enough during the journey. He had multitasked away opportunities to fully engage in his experiences and therefore failed to retain them.
It turned out that he was experiencing the early stages of dementia, but the lesson stuck with me.
I often forget the names of people I meet simply because I am not fully in the now when I am introduced to them.
It is healthy to be in the now, fully engaged with life as it happens. But it is also essential to keep the now in context.
Right now has a past, and it will have a future.
Engage fully with today by interpreting the present through the lessons of the past and the possibilities of the future.
#Jehoshaphat #ChristianGrowth #BiblicalWisdom #FaithAndFocus #WalkingWithGod
The Truth About Perspective: Are You Seeing Life Clearly—or Only Seeing the Moment?
Have you ever found yourself so focused on today's problem that you lost sight of yesterday's blessings or tomorrow's hope? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave a comment below and share a time when keeping life's bigger picture helped you through a difficult season.
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